The Courier Who Changed New Vegas
by gecko-for-hire
Summary: A novelized version of one of my journeys in the game, and the relationships that form between courier and companions. The good, the bad, and the downright hilarious. As they say: what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger.
1. Second Chance

**Authors Note: **It's been a while since anything by me has popped up here. Eh, life happens. This little work of genius is a novelized version of the game, reflecting a lot of the choices I made, and some funny instances that happen to me during play. In my fallout games I like to make a sharp-shooter build. High guns, decent sneak. You get the idea. This is reflected in my character. My main goal was to add personality and back story of my own to the character of the courier, as well as flesh out interactions with her companions as well as other NPC's. I will follow the original storyline of the game rather closely in the beginning, merely as a vice to help set the rest of the story. Please bear with me, it will come in to it's own, I promise. I rated this M. No lemons, but there are sexual themes, drug use, alcohol, swearing, and blood. This is Fallout after all.

I do not own Fallout or any of the Fallout storylines used. All I own are the character of Gekko, and my own bad ideas.

Special thanks to my husband/beta reader, for critiquing this for me, and for getting me hooked on Fallout in the first place.

* * *

_Traveling the Mojave, you hear many life stories. Sad stories, most of them. Loss, destruction, corruption. People leave and people die. Entire life fortunes vanish in the blink of an eye. Life out here is difficult and trying. It was very different from what I was used to, growing up in the quiet mountains of Oregon. But a lot about me is quite different. _

_All of my grandparents came from the same underground vault. Vault 556 to be exact. Childhood friends, they left together to start a new life outside of the florescent confines of 556, along with most of the younger generation of the vault. They settled in with the local tribal's, and helped to build what is now known as New Salem. With it's proximity to Highway 5, and the Willamette River, both two of the largest trade routs to the north, the city flourished. _

_I lived a modest childhood. Away from the city. Not rich, but we seldom went without. I was close with my older brother and especially close with my younger sister. Mom stayed at home with the kids, and my father took up many odd jobs, from caravan guard, to logging, and his favorite, prospecting. He was gone a lot, but always returned to us with tokens of his travels. I especially liked the old pre-war books he found in the empty vaults._

_One day, however, that all changed. As most good things do come to an end. My father and his traveling partner came across a sizeable lost gold reserve that was rumored to be in the area, but had gone long undiscovered. Suddenly we were among the richest in the northwest. My parents moved the family back to New Salem, and into the life of the high society. One would think being rich as a blessing, but not me. I hated the city, and I hated the social standards and confines I was now expected to live by. I was too free-spirited to adapt to a life of luxury. My parents changed, my life changed. The force governing our life was money. Everything became about money, fame, reputation and prestige. _

_Then my life was being taken out of my control. My whole childhood I dreamed of traveling the footsteps of my father. Adventure in the mountains, living off my gun and the stuff I could carry on my back. Now I learned that if I wanted to remain part of my family, I would need to conform the rituals of the elite. So I did what many bull-headed, know-it-all 17 year olds would do. I packed what I could carry, took an old 10mm my dad gave me, and left. Never to return again. I took on a new alias, "Gekko", my name real name a fragment of my past, changed my appearance and joined the first caravan I could to California. _

* * *

8 years later…

"And that there must be Goodsprings…" Gekko muttered to herself, standing on a large boulder off the side of the crumbling road. She glanced into the distance at the sparse twinkling lights down in the small valley. The sun was quickly starting to set, and she wanted to find refuge for the night. She hopped down from her perch, picking up her backpack and slinging it over her shoulders in one swoop.

A courier with the Nevada division of the Mojave Express, she was en route to deliver a poker chip made of pure platinum to the New Vegas Strip. Once her delivery was made, she was to travel to the Mojave Express branch office in Primm, which was a few miles south of Goodsprings, to confirm the delivery order. A relatively simple task altogether. She figured it might leave her some time to play in New Vegas as well.

As she neared the top of the hill, which began the final leg of her journey into town, she saw a man in a checkered suit, holding a map, standing at the side of the road.

"Hey excuse me, doll, can you give this cat a hand for just a second?" The man said with a toothy smile.

"What?" Gekko replied in a harsh tone, catching the man off guard. If this guy was out here looking for trouble, she wanted to make sure he knew that she was not a chick to be messed with.

"Whoa whoa easy there doll, I just have a simple question for you is all." He took a couple steps towards her. Gekko stepped back, her right hand hovering near the grip of a 9mm holstered to her hip. She kept her icy blue eyes on him, analyzing his every move.

"Can you point me to the town of Goodsprings? It's getting late and I'm not lookin' to be caught out here in the dark, hey?"

Gekko gave and annoyed sigh. "Dude, it is right there at the bottom of the foothill. You can fucking see it from here."

"Look I am really lost, can't you just point it out to me on this here map?"

"No." She said firmly. _How dumb does he think I am?_ She asked herself. _As if I would fall for such an obvious trap. _

The man started to become annoyed wither her defiance. "Well then, do you think it would be ok if I traveled with you? I wouldn't want anything… bad to happen to a pretty doll like yourself, all alone out here in the dark." He suppressed a small laugh with that last statement. His demeanor betraying him.

Gekko whipped out her pistol and aimed it right between his eyes. "Unless you feel like having a hole put in your head tonight, I suggest you fuck off and keep away from me."

The man pulled out a cigarette from inside his suit, put it to his lips and lit it. "You know, doll." He took a long drag from his cigarette. "I was hoping to make this easy for both of us tonight, but it looks like you leave me no choice… GET HER!"

Gekko whirled around at the sound of footsteps rushing up behind her. She tried to jump out of the way of two men running at her, and fired a bullet into one of their legs. The second man leapt at her, grabbing her by the arm, twisting it and nearly pulling her to the ground. She yelped in pain as she smacked the man over the head with her gun, causing him to release her. As she stood up, something heavy and metallic struck her in the back of the head. Instantly her vision blurred before she blacked out and slumped to the ground.


	2. The Gambler

Authors Note: K, now that the teaser is out of the way, the real story can begin. Just to reiterate, this story follows how I played the game. The first couple chapters follow a bit closely to the game, but it will deviate. Just trust me the good stuff is coming.

My goal is to write a novel someday, so constructive criticism and feedback is appreciated. Fanfiction is one of the ways I practice and improve my writing skills. :)

* * *

As she started to come to, she felt the cold, hard ground beneath her. The smell of cigarettes, and alcohol filled the air. She opened her eyes and saw that she was in some sort of hole in the ground. She stared up at a velvet sky, twinkling with hundreds of stars, looking down, watching her. She tried to move, only to discover that her hands and ankles were bound by rope. Her ears tuned into the sounds of men's voices. She went still, listening to what they were saying.

"You got what you were after, so pay up!" Came an annoyed voice.

"You're cryin' in the rain pally" She could tell that voice came from the man in the checkered suit. Just hearing that voice made her blood begin to boil.

"Guess who's wakin' up over here." Came another voice.

Gekko sat up to face her assailants. The man in the checkered suit, was looking at her, puffing on a cigarette. Five other men stood around him, a couple of them were holding shovels. A sixth man was off to the side, nursing the bullet wound in his leg. He gave her a sinister glare. Gekko ignored him, not breaking her stare at the man in the suit. He threw his cigarette on the ground, and ground it into the dirt with his foot. "Time to cash out."

"Will you get it over with?" Said the annoyed man, as the man in the checkered suit took a few steps towards her.

He held up his finger to silence his annoyed lackey. "Maybe Khan's kill people without lookin' em in the face. But I ain't a fink, dig?" He turned his attention back towards Gekko as he reached into his jacket and pulled out the platinum poker chip she was supposed to deliver to the Vegas Strip.

_That is what this is all about? That bloody poker chip? _Gekko thought to herself.

"You've made your last delivery, kid." The man in the checkered suit gave her an almost sympathetic look. It made her even more pissed off at him. He put the chip back in his suit jacket and pulled out a shimmering silver pistol. "Sorry you got twisted up in this scene."

Suddenly it all made sense to her that this was not just a typical mugging, and things were not in her favor. Fear took over, as her breathing was quick and uneven, her body began to tremble.

"From where you're kneeling, it must feel like an 18 karat run of bad luck" He said as he glanced at the pistol in his hand. "Truth is…" he aimed his gun at her "The game was rigged from the start."

Gekko ducked her head as his finger squeezed the trigger. The crack of the gunshot echoed in in the hills around them as everything went dark.

* * *

Gekko started to wake up, she could tell that she was laying on a bed. A spinning ceiling fan came into focus above her. Everything was blurry and disorienting to her.

_Was it all just a bad dream?_

"You're awake! How 'bout that?" A surprised mans voice chimed in beside her, causing her to jump.

She blinked as she turned her head to the side the voice came from. She could not yet focus on the person in the chair by her bed, but could tell that it was a man dressed mostly in dark clothes.

"Whoa! Easy there, easy." He sat up in his chair. "You've been out cold a couple of days now." He leaned back in his chair. "Why don't you just relax a second, get your bearings."

She laid still for a few moments, her vision clearing. The man beside her looked to be in his 60's. He was kind faced, balding, and had a wiry grey moustache. He was dressed in a black leather jacket and wore brown pants, and brown gloves. A red bandanna was around his neck.

"Let's see what the damage is… How 'bout your name? Can you tell me your name?"

"Gekko" she replied in a hoarse voice. She then realized how incredibly thirsty she was.

"Heh, can't say it's what I would have picked for ya, but if that's your name, that's your name. I'm Doc. Mitchell. Welcome to Goodsprings." The doctor re adjusted himself in his chair. "Now, I hope you don't mind, but I had to go rootin' around there in your noggin to pull all the bits of lead out. I take pride in my needle work, but you'd better tell me if I left anything outta place." He reached to a nearby table and picked up a hand-held mirror, and handed it to her.

Gekko slowly lifted herself up, and leaned against the headboard of the bed. Nervously, she held the mirror up to her face and looked at her reflection. To her relief, the bullet did not disfigure her face at all. A small, stitched up wound was on the side of her left temple, slightly behind the hairline. She let out a sigh of relief as she examined the rest of her face. She frowned as she noticed her hot pink Mohawk, which she had just recently had done, was completely mashed up and caked with dirt. She glanced at her ears, all of her piercing were still there. Three in each earlobe, and one in her left cartilage. She turned her attention back to her face to make sure everything looked right. Everything still symmetrical and proportionate as it had always been. Seductive, cat-like icy blue eyes, high set cheek bones, small, pert nose, the slightest dimple on her chin, and well shaped lips with just the perfect amount of natural poutiness to them. She always considered herself lucky to be born with a cute face.

"How'd I do?" Doc. Mitchell asked as she handed the mirror back to him.

Gekko answered with a simple nod. "So, how did I end up here?"

"Well I got most of it right anyway… stuff that mattered." The doctor chuckled. "Big metal feller who lives in a shack at the edge of town. He found ya and brought you here." He stood up from his chair. "Ok, no sense keeping you in bed anymore. Let's see if we can get you on your feet." He took Gekko's hands in his and helped her to stand. She was wobbly at first, but leaning her weight against his support, she was quickly able to catch her bearings.

"Good!" he happily exclaimed. "Why don't you take a quick walk around the room?" Gekko nodded as she took a few steps, working to find her balance.

"Take it slow now!" He reprimanded her. "It ain't a race."

Doc. Mitchell watched her, as she paced around his room. "Lookin' good!" He smiled at her. "Seems like you got most of your vigor back. Now why don't you have a seat on my couch over there and we'll run a few more tests."

After some simple word association and ink blot tests, the doctor deemed her fit to be on her way.

He left the room, and returned after a few minutes holding some clothing and what she noticed as her belongings. He set her backpack down on the table in front of her. She opened it to find that her delivery order, some bottled water, ammo, and a few stimpacks were still there, unfortunately most of her caps, food, and passport into New Vegas were gone. In the bottom of the bag was her old weathered 10mm pistol she took from home. She picked it up and looked it over. "If this damn thing wasn't broken, maybe I could have fought my way out of that mess" She grumbled out loud. She then picked up her old varmint riffle, which was also in deteriorating condition, and looked it over. She slid the riffle back into it's backpack holster and looked over her 9mm. The poor thing was completely clogged with dirt. "Bastards…" She mumbled to herself. Her switchblade which she normally kept in her back pocket was also on the table. She picked up her hiking boots, which were caked with dirt, and made sure her combat knife was still in it's sheath.

Doc. Mitchell sat on the chair across from her and watched her go through her things. He cleared his throat. "I hope you don't mind, but I gave that note a look. I thought it might help me find a next of kin. But it was just something about a Platinum Chip."

He picked up a small, odd looking machine that looked like some sort of cross between a computer and an armband, and handed it to her. "Well, if you're headin' back out there, you oughta have this. They call it a 'pip-boy'. I grew up in one of them vaults they made before the war. We all got one." He handed her a faded Vault 21 jumpsuit. "Your clothes you came in wearing were caked with dirt and blood, so I didn't think you would mind not having them anymore. I already emptied all the pockets out for ya. This used to belong to my wife, she was about your size. My wife is long gone, so I really don't need it anymore."

Gekko blushed as she suddenly realized that she had been parading around in front of a strange old man in her underwear this whole time. Not that she was the overly modest type to begin with, it was still rather embarrassing to her. The doc left her in privacy so she could shower and get changed into her new outfit. The jumpsiut actually fit quite well and was really light weight and easy to move in. She gathered up all of her belongings. She slid the pip-boy onto her left wrist, and buckled her pistol holster around her hips. Not that the 9mm would do her much good at the moment, caked with dirt.

"Thanks for patching me up doc." She said as she tucked a brahmin steak, and a pack of crispy squirrel bits that he gave her into her backpack.

"Ah don't mention it, that is what I am here for." He replied with a kind smile.


	3. Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay

**Authors Note: **I know you are reading this. Yes you, right there at your computer screen. Hi! How are you today? If you like or don't like how I am doing this, please let me know. It is immensely helpful. Come on now, don't be shy. I am a really cool person I promise. LOL! :)

Ahem, now that I have gotten that little bit of vanity out of my system. :)

* * *

Gekko stepped from the dimly lit doctors house, out into the blinding Mojave sun. She squinted her eyes until they adjusted to the brightness, and scanned the town around her.

Tumbleweeds blew across the crumbling streets that ran through the small village. A couple of windmills churned noisily in the hot desert breeze as the leaves on plants, sprouting up all over the ground, flitted around. As she walked down the hill towards the small saloon in the middle of town, broken down shacks and fences gave out tired groans in the breeze as she walked past. Up ahead, she spotted a brown and grey colored machine, wheeling down the middle of the street.

_Is that the "metal feller" Doc. Mitchell said who pulled me out of the grave? _She asked herself. She ran to catch up with the robot, who must have sensed her coming, because he turned around as she drew near.

"Howdy pardner!" The robot greeted her cheerfully. "Might I say you're looking fit as a fiddle." The robot had a brownish grey monitor screen, with an animated picture of a smiling cowboy, wearing a wide brimmed hat, bandanna, and smoking a cigarette. She guessed that this must have been the robots 'face'. The robot stood about 6 feet tall, had wide 'shoulders', long arms and 3 prongs on each arm for hands. A small, circular antenna spun on top of the robots 'head', next to that was a speaker. The robot moved by use of a single tire. Scattered across his metal body were various lights and buttons.

"Ummm" Gekko was not sure what to say to the robot, now that it was talking to her. "Thanks for digging me out of the ground."

"Don't mention it! I'm always ready to lend a helping hand to a stranger in need." the robot responded.

_Guess I may as well see if he knows anything the bastards who shot me._ Gekko scratched at the stitches on the side of her head. "How did you happen to find me?"

The robot told her about how he was out on a stroll when he heard the commotion. He laid low to avoid trouble. After the thugs left, he dug her out of her shallow grave, only to find out she was still alive. So he took her to the town doctor.

"So, you have no idea who those guys were then?"

"Nope, sorry pardner. They weren't from 'round here."

Gekko studied the robot closely. She had seen various protectrons and a few other kinds of eyebots, and servant robots in her travels. But never a robot quite like him before. "What kind of robot are you?" She asked him.

"I'm a Securitron. RobCo Security Model 2060-B. If you ever see any of my brothers, tell them Victor says howdy. Oh that's right, I never introduced myself to ya yet. Sorry bout my band manners there pardner! Names Victor. I live in a shack at the end of the road on the South end of town. Feel free to stay there as long as you remain in town."

_Well, it might be worth my while to stick around here for a few days and see if there is any way for me to earn some caps, and supplies in this town. Considering I am out of both. _

"Thanks, Victor, I might have to take you up on that offer. Well I need to head off and see about finding some work to do." Gekko smiled and turned away from Victor and headed towards the saloon.

"Happy trails!" Victor shouted back to her as he continued rolling his way down the road.

* * *

"Oh fuck me I'm tired" Gekko whined out loud to herself as she collapsed onto the small, dingy bed of Victors dimly lit shack. Why does a robot even need a house anyways?

She spent the whole day doing odd jobs for money and supplies around the town of Goodsprings. This included helping the local bar owner, Trudy, by fixing a broken radio, and do some cleaning around her saloon for a few caps. Helping the local mercantile owner Chet with some heavy lifting. At least she got some spare varmint rifle parts to fix her aging gun with, and some rounds of ammo to go with it. And lastly she helped a young girl, about her age, named Sunny Smiles clear geckos away from the towns water pumps. Of course if all that involved was shooting a few geckos, it would have been a piece of cake to her. But no, some lady had to wander off to the water pumps by herself with nothing but a meat cleaver to protect herself from a hoard of hungry geckos. Thankfully they were able to rescue said lady, only to have her get attacked by a crazy whack job on her trip back to her house, which meant that Gekko had to rescue this woman's ass twice in the same day.

"So much for those rounds I worked for." Gekko sighed.

She lifted her arm up to her face, and for the first time gave her new pip-boy a good look over. Turns out the thing was actually a pretty neat little piece of equipment. It had functions to tell date and time, local and regional maps, with a few locations already programmed into it. It also had a built in Geiger Counter, as well tools to measure your bodies condition like injuries, radiation level, and dehydration level. She could store notes to it, and also pick up local radio stations.

Her stomach growling, Gekko sat up and reached into her backpack, digging out the steak Doc. Mitchell had given her earlier. She walked over to the stove and tried to turn it on. Nothing happened.

"Of course…" She grumbled. "No way in hell I am building a campfire at this hour to cook a damn steak. I would not be eating 'til morning."

She flopped back onto the bed, the springs squealing in protest, and picked up the packet of Crispy Squirrel bits and one of the banana yucca fruits she picked earlier.

As she ate, she took her 9mm from it's holster and began to take it apart for cleaning. She reached into a side pocket on her backpack and took out a small gun cleaning kit.

"Does everyone in this town believe in poor lighting?" She growled to herself, as she struggled with some of the small, intricate parts. She noticed a small switch on the side of her pip-boy. Out of curiosity, she flipped it and the screen illuminated. It was a meager amount of light, but still better than nothing. She smiled contently as she continued on with her task.


	4. We Will Rock You

**Author's note: **You may have noticed by now that my pen name is Gecko for Hire. My character in the story is named Gekko (gaming handle that often I use). What is up with that you ask? I would be happy to explain. I love geckos and I own several of them. As to why her name is spelled Gekko, it is the scientific name for the Tokay Gecko: Gekko gecko. One of which I own. His name is Mr. Chrono. 3

* * *

Gekko's breath turned into mist around her head. Her, Sunny, and a man named Ringo stood together in the pre-dawn hour, outside the run down gas station on the top of a hill overlooking town. She watched as a Trudy, and a few other townsfolk, began to gather outside the saloon.

"Are you guys ready to do this?" Sunny asked, looking from Ringo, to Gekko. Cheyenne, Sunny's ever faithful dog panted at her side. "Let's go!" Sunny reached over her shoulder and took her rifle from it's holster on her back as she started jogging towards town. Ringo and Gekko followed suit.

Gekko met Ringo just a couple days prior. He was a trader with the Crimson Caravan Company. The largest trading outfit in the Mojave. His caravan had recently run into trouble with a local group of escaped convicts, calling themselves "Powder Gangers". He was taking refuge in the town while the gang looked for him. Unfortunately, that started to stir up some trouble between the gang and the locals. Gekko helped Ringo and Sunny form a small militia with some other villagers to make sure Goodsprings stayed peaceful.

The sun was quickly rising over the mountains to the east. Before too long the gangers would be there and the fighting would begin. Gekko positioned herself behind a building, where she had a view of the road they would be traveling on to reach the town. Sunny and Cheyenne stayed near the Saloon with the townsfolk, and Ringo waited behind the building with Gekko.

Gekko's duty was to start taking the first shots as soon as the convicts were within her range, and she intended to make them count. Sunny and the villagers would then start providing Gekko with backup. Ringo was to hang behind and take out the groups leader, at his personal request.

The sounds of men's voices in the distance signaled to everyone that the gang drew near. She could hear a low growl coming from Cheyenne just across the road. Gekko steadied her breathing as the adrenaline began to build up inside of her. Now that her rifle was in top working order, she would be able to show the Mojave what a formidable force it had decided to mess with.

Crouching low and keeping as solid as a rock, she waited for the first convict to walk through her sights. She pulled the trigger. A bullet struck the man right in the side of the head and he instantly collapsed into a heap. She pulled the trigger again and put a bullet in the left leg of another ganger, crippling it. Just then the sounds of gunfire rang out all over the town. Ringo darted around the opposite side of the building to go find the gangs leader. Much to Gekko's amusement, not all of the gangers were armed with guns. A couple had implements like tire irons, baseball bats and machetes. She slid a few more rounds into the chamber of her rifle as she ran across the street to join the others. Sunny had already managed to take out two more gangers with clean shots right to the head. _Too bad I can't get that girl to take to the road with me. _Gekko thought as she took aim at another ganger. Almost as soon as the fight began, it was over.

Sunny turned around to face Gekko, a smile spread across her pretty face. "Thanks a lot, you really helped us out there. You have the gratitude of me and the whole town for all the help you've given us lately. Feel free to come back and visit us as often as you like. If you're in need of any supplies, I am sure these guys," She motioned to the dead convicts scattered around the small town. "have plenty of things on them that might be of more use to you than us. Feel free to take what you need."

"Thanks." Gekko nodded.

"Hey…" She heard Ringo's voice behind her and she turned around to face him. He put a small sack of caps in her hand. "I know it is not much, and it is technically property of Crimson Caravan. I am sure they will understand. Thanks again kid. And if you are ever in New Vegas, stop by the Caravan's main office there and look for me."

"Will do" Gekko replied as she pocketed the caps. "Well, I need to be off towards Primm."

"Be seein' ya!" Sunny shouted to Gekko, as she and Cheyenne headed into the saloon.

After searching over the dead gangers, Gekko left with plenty of ammo for her 9mm and her varmint riffle. She also now had a .345 magnum, a sack full of 9mm and riffle gun parts, Some Sunset Sarsaparilla, and fresh bottled water. On the gang leaders body she found combat headwear, which was in pretty decent condition. When it comes to situations of survival, you do what you must. Even if it means stealing a dead man's clothes.

It was going to take her the rest of the day to walk to Primm. After she was a couple miles outside of Goodsprings, her stomach began to growl loudly. It was then that she realized she had not eaten yet that day. She stopped and dug around her backpack for a banana yucca fruit and a bottle of water.

As she walked along, munching on her breakfast she heard gunshots and shouting, and they were pretty close to where she was. Holding her fruit in her mouth, she crouched down and drew her rifle. She quietly crept through the brush, making sure to stay low and be as quiet as possible. Just up the road she saw a man in a prison uniform shouting as he fired his gun at seemingly nothing. Recognizing him as a powder ganger, she continued to move towards him, wondering what exactly he was shooting at. She quietly raised her rifle and put a bullet through the back of his head, before he even knew what hit him.

She stood up, and approached where the dead man lay. After looking around and seeing nobody else, she re-holstered her gun. She noticed a bunch of bloatflies buzzing about while several dead ones littered the ground around the ganger she had just shot.

"Bloatflies? He wasted all that fucking ammo on bloatflies" She growled angerly as she knelt down to search his body over. She recovered some more 9mm rounds, as well as a couple of stimpacks. Not surprisingly, the man also had a shitload of Jet on him as well.

The remainder of her journey was mostly uneventful. She had a small altercation with a couple of Powder Gangers at an encampment of theirs on the side of the road. After easily dealing with that problem, she left with even more ammo, a suit of leather armor, and some extra food. Just past the camp, she saw the large wooden rollercoaster she had been told about coming into view among a backdrop of mountains. She smiled in relief, looking forward to a restful night after a day of travel. First thing in the morning she would head to the Mojave Express branch office and inquire about the platinum chip she was supposed to deliver to the Vegas Strip.

She decided to leave the road and head towards the fence that bordered the town. Gun shots whizzed past her. She immediately ran and ducked for cover behind one of the many large boulders. Pistol in hand, she carefully peaked around the edge of the boulder, and looked around for where the shots came from. Nobody was in sight. Could it have been… the town shooting at her? She re-holstered her weapon and headed back towards the road, making sure to keep an eye on the town. Up ahead she saw the remnants of a highway overpass. Once she reached it, she looked to her left and saw that it was where the town entrance lie.

As she neared the entrance to the town a voice up ahead caught her off guard.

An NCR trooper stood about 20 feet in front of her. "Hey, where in the hell do you think you're going? Primm is off limits."

Gekko felt her heart sink. "Off limits? Why? What is going on in Primm?" she inquired.

The soldier explained to her that escaped convicts from the nearby prison had taken over the town. Most of it's residents were either dead or in hiding somewhere inside. Not to mention raider tribes had been causing trouble in the area as well. He recommended talking to the Lieutenant for more information.

She headed towards a small gathering of NCR tents. "Just my fucking luck… damn Powder Gangers." she grumbled to herself.

Inside a tent, she met Lieutenant Hayes. He conveniently told her that they just did not have to supplies or people to take on the gangers. Not to mention the town was not NCR jurisdiction. The best they could do was to keep the gang inside the town. He did agree to let Gekko use their camp for the night.

As she looked around the small camp, she agreed with Lieutenant Hayes that they did not have to people to deal with the situation. All he had were maybe a half dozen soldiers. Judging by their uniforms, they were the most basic of troops at that. Just kids with no real combat experience, who would only end up getting themselves shot in this situation. Also, go figure that NCR and their stupid politics would play in this as well. Worried more about their political prestige and less about their soldiers, President Kimball, and his lapdog General Oliver had the large NCR army spread too thin, and reduced to nothing more than babysitters. She knew of the Legion and the war over the dam. She had seen first hand issues with NCR citizens outside of California. And here was another example of how everyone was forced to sit and wait around for the shit to hit the fan.

Gekko headed over to a roaring campfire in the middle of camp. Hungry, she dug into her backpack and pulled out the Brahmin steak she had been thinking about for the past couple of days. She laid it over a cooking grate set across the fire and took a seat on the dusty ground. She pulled out a sarsaparilla and started chugging it down happily. They did not have Sunset Sarsaparilla where she was from. She discovered it while working as a guard on a caravan heading through Western Nevada. And Goddamn if she could not get enough of the stuff since.

As her steak sizzled away over the fire, she started to draw hungry stares from the NCR troopers around the camp. She felt bad for the troopers, who were probably starved of tasty food out here, but this was a small steak, and she was in no mood to share. Once she had finished with her dinner, she headed into the tent which had four tattered old mattresses laying scattered on the ground. She took one in the back corner of the tent. She shoved her backpack into the corner, and laid down for the night.


	5. Ain't Nothin' Gonna Break My Stride

Hooooly cow, I barely had a chance to breath the last two months. Trust me faithful readers, I hath not forgotten thee, I have just been way busy. But I should *cross fingers* have more time to dedicate to this project. I wanna get it finished so that I can produce a sexy sequel to this story.

* * *

As she waited for sleep to come last night, Gekko came to the conclusion that she had to enter Primm, and look for info on the delivery she was supposed to make. Maybe see if any of the townsfolk were still alive, and had seen the group that attacked her passing through. No way in hell she was going to let those bastards get away with what they did. Even if it meant tailing them all over the Mojave.

Inside one of the small latrine shacks, she changed into her leather armor. Unfortunately it was a men's suit, so it fit her all wrong, but it was still better than going in wearing a thread bare vault jumpsuit which offered no protection at all. She was rather well stacked for a girl her size, so naturally she had a lot of trouble squeezing her chest in and zipping the armor all the way up the front. She had no choice but to settle for leaving a portion of her cleavage, collar and neck showing. Who knew, maybe showing a little boob to these guys might buy her a second or two to get the jump on them. It was also too long in the arms and legs, and she had to roll it up so she could walk and shoot. She put on the combat helmet, cringing as it mashed down her Mohawk. She geared herself up with her varmint rifle and magnum revolver. Convinced she looked thoroughly ridiculous in non-fitting armor and a hat smashed over her mohawk, she left the camp and walked over to the town entrance, getting curious stares from the patrolling soldiers.

As she crossed the town gate, she felt her foot land on something. A loud _click_ and a fast pace beeping filled the air. She screamed as she flung herself backwards, landing hard on her bottom. She covered her face with her arm as an explosion echoed through the buildings. A spray of dust and shrapnel covered her.

_What in the hell? Goddamn frag mines! _

She stood up and dusted herself off. Rubbing her sore butt, she looked closer at the entry path and saw a few more of the cursed mines. She wasn't sure who put them there, NCR or convicts, but if she found out, she vowed to shove those mines up their ass.

Reluctantly, she disarmed the rest of the mines. Frags always seemed to plague her at the worst possible times. By now she had gotten pretty good at disarming them. But she usually discovered their presence by stepping on at least one. Disarming them, however was a learned skill. More than once she had sat in an infirmary somewhere, getting shrapnel plucked from her skin. Not a pleasant experience.

Once she got into town, she ducked behind a building, and pulled out her rifle. Up ahead was the Mojave Express office, but first she had to secure the area around it from the Gangers. Quietly, she waited, until her ears picked up on the sound of footsteps. Across the street to her left, two convicts were walking towards the town gate. Possibly to check on the explosion. As one man crossed her gun sights, she pulled the trigger, successfully hitting him right in the neck. As he fell to the ground, his buddy saw her and began to run right for her, lighting a piece of dynamite in his hand. Gekko shot the dynamite, blowing his arm right off as he fell to the ground, dead. She quickly snuck over to search their bodies for anything useful. Shouting voices caught her attention as three more Gangers came running around the buildings down the street. She took aim at the closest one and put a bullet in his chest. The other two began shooting at her. She rolled behind a gas pump as bullets whizzed by. In her experience with Powder Gangers thus far, their aim sucked and they mostly shot with 9mm, which her armor could somewhat resist. She put her rifle away and pulled out the magnum. She took a deep breath and darted around the gas pump, charging towards the Gangers. A couple of well placed shots took the men right down.

"Wow! This bitch has some real kick to her!" She smiled at the gun, impressed as she reloaded the revolver. No more men in her immediate surroundings, she took cover behind another building. Her attention turned towards the roller coaster. If these guys had any intelligence what-so-ever, there were most likely men armed with rifles walking around up there. She once again pulled out her trusty varmint rifle and crept around the building until she had better view of the roller coaster. She traced along the track with her sights until she came across someone walking around up there. She pulled the trigger and the convict dropped his gun, and fell over the railing to the ground. The roller coaster looped around a large building in the center of town, called the Bison Steve Hotel. She followed around the back side of the building, keeping low. Two more men where on the roller coaster and she took them down with relative ease.

Gekko made a quick jaunt through town, not seeing anymore of the Powder Gangers outside. She finally made her way to the Mojave Express office and stepped inside. Nobody was inside the dimly lit room. She turned on her pip-boy light and explored the area. A radio on the front desk was playing "Heartache By the Numbers". She walked around to the back of the building and came across someone's living quarters. On a small table was dinner set for two. The place almost looked as if life just vanished in the blink of an eye. Gekko headed back towards the front room and began to search around the office area. On a far corner of the large main desk sat what looked like a pile of scrap metal. Upon closer inspection she discovered that it was an Eyebot. An Eyebot with a laser cannon on it? She had seen a lot of new things since arriving to the Mojave, but never a combat Eyebot. Curiosity got the better of her as she looked it over. The robot was beaten up pretty badly and it's internal gyroscope was fried. All the parts needed to fix the gyroscope sat next to it. She had fiddled with broken Eyebots before, so she had a good idea about how to make a quick fix to get him running again. After a few patience trying minutes, and a lot of cursing, the robot sprang to life. He floated into the air, beeping. She saw the screen of her pip-boy light up. "Downloading ED-E Companion Protocol" the screen read. Once the download was complete, she saw new function under the heading of "ED-E" appear on her pip-boy. She quickly realized that this would allow her to control the robot. She also noticed something called "Perception Enhancer" in the ED-E heading. All it was, was a dot in the center of a large circle, which had the directions of a compass on it. Not sure what it meant, she decided to leave the Mojave Express office, ED-E following her, and headed into town to look for survivors.

Across the street was the Vikki and Vance Casino. She headed over to the front door and stepped inside.

"I don't know what it was brought you to Primm, youngster, but you might wanna rethink your plans. Towns gone to hell." A distraught looking older man greeted her.

"Is this where the people are hiding?" She asked him.

"Sure is." He replied. "Names Johnson Nash. Husband of Ruby Nash. Lived in Primm 'round eight years now, thick and thin. I do trade mostly. I also run the local Mojave Express outpost."

"I'm a courier with Mojave Express!" Gekko blurted out. Excited that she might get the info she came for.

Nash sadly shook his head. "Well, I don't got any work right now for ya, sorry to say."

"No, no. I am not looking for work. I had a package stolen from me that I was supposed to deliver."

"Oh." Concern crossed his wrinkled, tanned face. "I'll tell ya whatever I can. Do you have the delivery order to show me?"

Gekko reached into her back pocket for the delivery order. It wasn't there. "FUCK!" She swore out loud as she checked all of her pockets. She forgot to grab the stupid piece of paper before heading into town.

"I'llberightback!" She quickly shouted over her shoulder as she dismissed herself from the building. A confused looking Johnson Nash in her wake. She ran full speed through town until she reached the entrance. She dashed into the NCR camp, alarming the soldiers on duty. She dove into the tent where her backpack was, waking up a sleeping female trooper. The trooper gave her a dirty look as Gekko tore through her backpack before reaching the delivery order, which had somehow found it's way all the way down into the bottom of her bag. She bolted back out of the tent and into town. She ran through the streets, half lost before she finally found the Vikki and Vance again.

"Here!" She thrust the paper at Nash, and held her chest, panting to catch her breath.

"Ok, let's see what we have here. Oh where did I put them darned glasses at?" Nash started checking his pockets.

"They are on top of your head" Gekko said impatiently, still trying to catch her breath.

'Oh! So they are!" Nash chuckled as he slipped them on his face. "Alright…" He squinted to examine the paper, holding it about three feet away from his face. "Oh this job. Had strange written all over it. But, we couldn't turn down the caps."

Gekko straightened herself up. "What was so strange about it?"

"Some cowboy robot from Goodsprings had us hire six couriers. Each carrying something a little different. Pair of dice, chess piece. That kind of stuff. Last word I had from the office, looks like payment had been received for the other five jobs. Guess it was just your chip that didn't make it. First deadbeat we hired for the job canceled. That's why we had you transferred in from the California branch."

Gekko cocked her eyebrow. "Canceled?"

"Yeah, got this look when he saw you next down on the courier list. His expression turned right 'round. Asked if your name was for real. Then he turned down the job. I asked if he was sure, it was good money. He said 'let courier six carry that package.' Then he just up and walked out."

"Do you know who he was? Where he went"" Gekko asked.

"No idea. Sounds like you two had a history for him to act like that. And, to turn down the money too."

Gekko contorted her face, in concentration. Nobody came to mind. She shook the thought from her head. "Ok then, back to business. A man in a checkered suit and some thugs mugged me and stole the package. Did they pass thought here."

Nash thought for a few seconds. "Well, now that you mention it, a few nights back one of the townies was out scavenging for supplies. He said he saw a fella in a daisy suit come through with some of 'em Great Khan misfits. They was talking about a chip."

Her face lit up. "That man in the 'daisy suit' shot me. I need to know the best way to get to them."

"Well for that, your best bet is going to be talking to Deputy Beagle. He was keeping' notes on them when they came to town. He may have heard where they were going. Unfortunately, Beagle is being held hostage in the Bison Steve by them Powder Gangers. If he's still alive that is."

As Nash handed the delivery order back to Gekko, he noticed the ED-E buzzing above her head. "I see you got that danged robot working. I've been meaning to fix 'im but just couldn't find the time."

"Do you know what kind of robot this is? I have never seen anything quite like it."

"No idea. Some courier dropped it off at the office few months back. Figured I could use it for courier work and tried fixin' it up. But, every time I got 'im working, he pooped out on me again. Since you went through the trouble of fixin' 'im, you can go right on ahead and keep 'im. Maybe try takin' it to Gibson Scrap Yard and seein' if she has any parts there for it."


	6. Let It Rock!

So I decided to add a twist and change the chapter titles to titles of some more modern (and some not as much) song titles, which may or may not have a whole lot to do with the chapter itself.

* * *

Gekko glanced around at the people occupying the Vikki and Vance. Men, women, children. All ages. Most of them where holding guns. All of them looked tired, hungry, dirty and downright miserable. They must have been holed up here since the Powder Gangers marched in. Judging by the few dead bodies around the city, she figured almost everyone made it in alive.

Something on her pip-boy caught her eye. She had left it on the screen that had the compass with a dot in the middle. All over the compass were small yellow dots, some stationary, some moving about. She looked back up at the citizens milling around and back to her pip-boy. The realization hit her like a brick to the face.

"Oh… so this thing must show the people who are around me. How cool is that?"

"Beg your pardon?" Nash spoke up from his seat near the casino door.

Gekko's cheeks flushed. She didn't realize she had been talking out loud to herself. "Oh… it's nothing. Sorry."

Nash nodded as he went back to the book he was reading.

Gekko left the Vikki and Vance, and made her way across the street to the Bison Steve.

_Guess I get to play Super Hero again…_

She pulled out her magnum and quietly entered the Bison Steve. ED-E hovering above her head. The proximity indicator on her pip-boy showed about a half dozen red dots in the area. One of them was quickly approaching. A man came running around the corner into the large entry hall of the hotel. Gekko fired a few shots until the man fell down. She ducked low and crawled over to his body to recover anything useful. Damned if her aim wasn't much better with a rifle. Unfortunately, that was not the weapon to use for such close quarters combat. The idea still tempted her. She made her way over to the hallway the convict came from, and darted into the next available room. Gekko found herself in what used to be a gift shop. It had been completely ransacked. Toys, knick knacks and empty soda bottles were strewn everywhere. Footsteps came running down the hallway towards where she was.

"I heard something over here!" a voice rang out in the darkness.

Before she could react, ED-E charged out into the hallway, playing some kind of battle theme and started firing his lasers.

"GODDAMNIT… ROBOT!" she shouted as she ran into the hallway after him. By the time she got there, both men were burning piles of ash. She looked up a the robot in utter amazement.

"Sooo glad you are on my side."

She continued her way through the dark hallways, checking her proximity indicator. A red dot appeared not to far from where she was standing. She rounded a corner and ended up in some sort of small sitting area. Through a side door stood an unsuspecting convict. She shot him before he even knew she was there.

_A girl could get used to this!_

She climbed a staircase at the end of the hall and found herself in some sort of auditorium room. ED-E blared his battle theme once again and started firing his lasers. Gekko darted behind a row of seats and started firing at the forms moving through the darkness. Once the fighting died down, she looked back at her pip-boy. All of the red dots were gone, but one lone yellow dot showed in the direction of some rooms located to the side of the auditorium.

_So, red dots must indicate hostile people. What the hell kind of technology is in this little robot?_

She stood, stretching her back and walked towards the room. In the center of it knelt a man with graying hair. His arms and legs bounded by rope. He spoke upon seeing her.

"I don't suppose you came here to rescue me? I'd cross my fingers but my hands are numb."

Gekko rolled her eyes at his sarcasm. "You must be Deputy Beagle."

"Why yes I am. it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm in a bit of a predicament here. I'd be most appreciative if you'd set me free."

"I believe you have information for me. Something about some Khans and a man in a checkered suit who passed through here a while back?"

"Indeed I do miss, and I would be more than happy to share that information with you as soon as I am untied."

Gekko knelt down beside the deputy. She pulled her combat knife from her boot and cut the ropes that bound him. Beagle stood up, rubbing at his sore wrists.

"Well… I think I'll be making my way outside now. Air is a bit cleaner out there…"

Before he could take a step, Gekko held her revolver to his head. "You will do no such thing!" She snapped. "I just wasted a shit load of my ammo clearing out this damn place to reach you. First you are going to tell me everything you know about the Khan's and their little friend. Then you are going to help me make sure those fucking Powder Gangers are gone from this place for good. Refuse and I will shoot you myself."

"O-Oh of.. Of course!" He stammered. "You just lead the way!"

"Pussy…" She muttered as she put her magnum away. 'Well… the man in the checkered suit! Start talking!"

"Right, of course. I was… er… performing some recon on the Powder Gangers when some Great Khan's rolled into town, with your friend in the suit. They were talking about some delivery they took from a courier. I assume that was you? They said they would be heading through Nipton to Novac to meet with a contact there."

"Thanks. I'll be heading there once we finish up here." Gekko started walking through the hotel, making sure Beagle was following her. The convicts were all taken care of, so they left the Bison Steve. Gekko deeply inhaled the cool night air. It sure was stuffy in that place.

"Well, that was quite and adventure!" Beagle spoke up from behind her. Taught those convicts a thing or two, didn't we?"

"We?" Gekko cocked her eyebrows.

"Breaking myself out of a hostage situation - not to diminish your roll in it, of course - but it was quite thrilling!"

"Wha… wha…" Gekko stammered. Anger welling up inside of her. Just who in the hell did this guy think he is?

"Problem is, there is still no law in Primm." Beagle spoke on, despite Gekko's obvious fury towards him. "What are we gonna do next time ruffians menace us and hold us hostage?"

"Well you seem to be so fucking amazing, why don't you take over?" She glared at him.

"Nah… I am much better at being deputy. What we need is a sheriff. I'd be most appreciative if you could help us out. You could get one of them NCR guys to take over. Or, word has it, a sheriff from a nearby town is incarcerated at the local prison. Perhaps you could go set him free."

Gekko balled up her fist, doing everything she could to keep from punching him in the face.


	7. Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These

After parting ways with the townsfolk of Primm and their spineless deputy, Gekko marched her way back to the NCR camp. The town offered her a place with them for the night, but she had the feeling that if she didn't leave right away, she would have ended up killing Beagle in his sleep. He was probably back at the Vikki and Vance, telling heroic tales to the people about how he rescued himself from his captors and had to save her in the process. Just the thought of that made her even more angry. When she arrived, she spotted Lieutenant Hayes sitting at one of the picnic tables, eating a box of Insta-Mash.

"Powder Gangers are taken care of, and the people are safe. They took refuge in one of their casinos." She flung herself down across from him at the picnic table and rested her head on her arms.

"Well that's one problem off our backs. Thanks for the help."

"Hey Lieutenant, would you be willing to sell me some food? I just realized I have not eaten all day, and I don't have very much on me in the way of food." Her stomach was howling at her.

Hayes gave her an appreciative smile. "With all you just did today, I think I can spare some. No need to pay us for it. Consider it payment if you will. Sorry it is not much, but it is the best I can offer."

"Thanks! Ummm…. I'll take a couple boxes of Insta-Mash."

"Hey, Campbell!" Hayes shouted to a soldier passing by.

"Sir!" the young soldier walked over to Hayes and stood at attention before him.

"Bring me four boxes of mash, two stews, and four bottles of water."

"Sir, yes sir!" The soldier marched into one of the tents and returned a few minutes later with the provisions.

"Thanks again Lieutenant." Gekko smiled as she ripped open two boxes of Insta-Mash.

"Like I said, consider it payment. What you did today is worth more than two boxes of this crap they give us for food. Oh and the water in that pot there should still be hot enough to re-hydrate that for you." He motioned towards a scuffed and dented metal pot sitting on the edge of the picnic table.

Gekko poured the hot water into her Insta-Mash boxes, grabbed a fork from the pile of dishes and flatware nearby and gave each box a good stir. Within a couple of minutes, she had two boxes of lukewarm, runny, glop that tasted nothing like potato, but at least it would fill her up. She looked at it distastefully, before taking a bite. How she wished she had another steak on her.

Lieutenant Hayes tossed his empty box into the fire and watched it quickly burn to ash. "You know, you made my soldiers angry with that steak of yours last night. I just had to tell 'em that this is what they signed up for." He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "The kids we get these days, they mean well, but they just have no constitution what so ever it would seem. Most of them arrive in Nevada thinking the first stop would be fucking New Vegas. Only to find out that there is real work involved here. Many of them whine about everything from the poor food, to the amount of standing around required. Most of these kids haven't even seen real combat yet, though that is not entirely their fault."

Not sure how to respond, Gekko just continued to eat. After a few minutes of silence, she finally spoke up. "Just so you know, Primm is really hurting for help right now. The only law they have in town is a poor excuse for a deputy. Occupying it could give your guys a better base of operations, not to mention a lot of trade comes through this way."

Like hell she was going to travel out of her way, to break some guy out of prison so he can go and play sheriff with their pretend deputy. Nope they can settle for NCR.

"I am well aware of the benefits for helping Primm." He said as he brought a cigarette to his lips and lit it. "Unfortunately I just don't have the authority or the man-power to do anything about it. Maybe if you go and talk to Major Knight at the Mojave Outpost and tell him what you just told me, I can move my guys in and help them out."

Gekko stood up and tossed the two empty boxes of Insta-Mash into the fire. "I'll see what I can do. So, where is this Mojave Outpost anyways?"

"Oh just follow the road and keep heading south. It is 'bout a days walk from here. Closest place you will come across to restock your supplies and get some rest. Next closest place would be Nipton, and that is almost a two day walk from here."

Nipton! She remembered Beagle saying something about the Khans and their pretty boy friend heading through Nipton to meet up with some contact in Novac. She thanked Hayes again for his generosity, gathered up her provisions, and headed to off to bed.

* * *

In the morning she packed up and headed on her way to the Mojave Outpost. It was basically one of many uneventful days that involved a lot of walking. Something that she had done a lot of over the past year, working as a courier. The quiet hum of ED-E's motor above her head threw her off a few times, thinking it was a cazadore swarm.

A sign directing her to the NCR Mojave Outpost lead her to a road that ran up into a mountain. The road was completely packed with pre-war cars. Skeletons of the past, left in place to slowly decay. She could tell the story they told. People trying to flee the nuclear hail which headed their way. They probably just grabbed what they could and ran on foot to whatever safety they could find. Whether or not they made it though, she would never know. The cars had obviously been stripped time and time again by scavengers, raiders and prospectors. Taking anything that was left of value. All that stood here were empty shells. A testament to mankind's once former glory.

As she climbed the steep roadway, a pair of statues came into view on the top of it. It was made mostly of bolted together sheets of rusting metal. It appeared to be of two NCR Rangers, one heavily armored, shaking hands. Behind the statue stood the Mojave Outpost. The Outpost consisted of few buildings. The left and right sides of the Outpost were bordered by granite mountain, jutting straight up into the sky. Fences surrounded the area. Brahmin walked around in pens made out of chain link fence, rooting through the dusty earth for food. Two buildings were arranged to the left of the outpost, their entrances flanked by walls of sandbags. Down the middle of the outpost stood what remained of some pre-war toll booth. Rusted out pre-war cars and trucks were pushed aside off the road. Soldiers, mercenaries, traders and caravaneers stood around idly. Some were sitting, drinking and playing cards. All of them looked bored and miserable. A soldier who was leaning against one of the legs of the statue, pushed himself away and walked towards her.

"Comin' from the North? Damn girl you must be crazy to brave those roads" The sergeant greeted her. His nameplate read 'Kilborn' "Welcome to the Mojave Outpost. Watchin' a whole lotta nothing. It has basically become a big Brahmin pen for caravans. They've been stopped up for a while, waiting for the roads North to clear - or their caravan papers to go through."

_That explains all the penned up Brahmin and bored traders. _

"Sooo… that is a mighty interesting statue you guys have goin' on there." She motioned to the statue behind her.

The sergeant rolled his eyes. "Those two? Supposed to mean unification of the East and West. Mostly they are good for shade. They won't do us much good when the Legion reaches us." He scratched at his large, wooly beard then folded his arms across his chest.

"So the Legion really have come across the river then? I have heard rumors that they are getting bolder in their movements across NCR territory."

"Damn straight they are. And all we can do is sit around here and wait for them to strike first. Almost makes me regret coming here in the first place…"

Gekko decided to abruptly change the subject before it turned into a long story she had been hearing a lot of lately. "Umm… I am looking for Major Knight. Can you tell me where I can find him?"

"Knight? You can find him in the far building on the left. He is the guy standing behind the desk as you enter. Hell of a repairman if find yourself in need." Kilborn said, dejected that Gekko did not want to listen to his rant about the NCR.

_I am in need of a lot of things right now…_

She made her way to the farther of the two buildings, and pushed open the heavy metal door. Inside the dimly lit building was a large wooden desk. Behind it stood a man, about late 20's to 30ish. He had buzzed off brown hair, a green Major beret and a kind smile.

_Speaking of one of those needs… This guy is not too bad looking. Hope he is single! Pretty young for a Major, must be one hell of a soldier. _

"Caravaneer, citizen… or?" He looked up, his eyes meeting hers.

"H-huh?" Gekko uttered out, absentmindedly.

"I just need it for a log. Ranger Jackson wants to keep track of everyone who comes through here."

Gekko snapped out of her daze. "Oh right… Courier… I guess."

"Ok…" Major Knight wrote 'courier' down in a small log book. He then closed it and placed it behind the desk. "So, what brings you out to Mojave Outpost?"

A loud bang on the metal door startled both of them. From the other side came a muffled, annoyed series of beeps.

"What in the hell?" Knight began to walk towards the door.

Gekko held up her hand to stop him. "Don't worry, I think I know what it is." She opened the door and in buzzed ED-E.

_Oh right, almost forgot all about him._

Knight cocked his eyebrows as he looked up at the robot suspiciously. "What is that thing?"

"Just an eyebot I am supposed to deliver. I told you I am a courier." She let out a flirtatious giggle.

" I see." Knight walked back to his post. "So, what were we talking about again? Oh right, what brought you to the Outpost." He leaned casually on the desk.

"Just passing through mostly." She said nonchalantly. "Although on my way through Primm I took out a few Powder Gangers for you guys. Oh, and Lieutenant Hayes has a message for you."

Knight stood up straight, impressed. "Wow, you took on the Powder Gangers? Thanks a lot! Every little bit with them helps us out. So what did the Lieutenant need?"

"He wants to occupy Primm. The town is in serious need of help, but he does not have the man power or authority to do so. Primm covers a major trade route and could serves as a good base of operations for troop movement." She smiled at him, working the feminine charm.

"I can see the logic in that. I can send over some extra troops then. But Primm will have to register as NCR citizens and pay NCR taxes."

Gekko shrugged. "That will be for them to work out. I am simply a messenger who got them the help they asked for. What happens to Primm from now on is none of my business."

"Alright then, I will put the order through right away. Anything else you need?"

"I am in need of caps and supplies, any work I can do for those?" She gave him a hopeful smile.

"For that you will need to talk to Ranger Jackson. His office is in the back hallway on the left." Knight pointed her to the direction of Jackson's office.


	8. Inside Out

**Authors Note:** I was very disappointed that NCR was being given so much grief over ants. I mean seriously, WTF!

Reviews and constructive criticism are very much welcome and appreciated.

* * *

Ranger Jackson looked kind of like an out of place cowboy wearing NCR Ranger armor. He had a rough, tanned face, large, black handlebar moustache, black beard, and sunglasses. His wide brimmed Ranger hat only added to the cowboy look. He gave Gekko the task of clearing out some "troublesome critters" that were blocking off the road North of the Outpost, near a dried up lake bed.

There was still a good amount of daylight left, so she decided to make the small hike over to the location Jackson gave her. Having a programmable map on her pip-boy made traveling around the wasteland almost easy. Once the red dots began to show up on her perception indicator, she proceeded cautiously, rifle at the ready. A little over a dozen enemies appeared on the pip-boy screen, slowly moving about.

She was not sure what kind of critters Jackson sent her after. The way he sounded, it very well could have been Deathclaws, or something nearly as sinister. She had come across Deathclaws a few times before. They bred like cazadores, and nested in any quiet place they came across. Usually when traveling caravan routs, one didn't see them too often. There was one time though, when a scout came running back to the weapons caravan she was guarding, with a Deathclaw in tow. It took all four caravan guards, both scouts as well as the caraveneer and the driver to take out one Deathclaw at close range. Not to mention the driver almost died. Turns out a small group nested near the road. It was that day she learned that the best way to handle them was to climb up into the mountains where the Deathclaws can't reach you, and take shots at them with a rifle and armor piercing rounds. However that method is time consuming. It took her and the other three guards several hours and a lot of ammo to deal with the 5 remaining Deathclaws.

She crept closer to the abandoned overpass where the critters were located, being very careful. Deathclaws are almost silent predators. Which add to the danger quotient. Another possibility was Cazadores. However it was too quiet to be them. You can hear their wings flapping when you are close to a cazadore swarm. Not to mention the dots moving around on her pip-boy were too slow to be cazadores.

Curiosity growing at what exactly she was up against, she peered over a rocky outcropping into the road below.

"MOTHER FUCK!" she cursed out loud. She stood up and kicked a rock off the outcropping in anger.

"Gaint ants! Mother fucking GIANT ANTS!" Gekko re-holstered her rifle and pulled out her 9mm as she made her way down to the road. She walked right into the colony and began shooting the ants antennae. This caused them to become frenzied and start killing each other instead of attacking her. She stood back and watched ED-E join in the carnage, firing his lasers at the ants. Not like they could reach him where he hovered, so she just let him go at it on his own.

Once the ants were done with, she quickly scouted the dry lake bed and took out the remaining worker ants. She also took out her frustration on a couple of feral ghouls who were also roaming the area. She wondered why Jackson just didn't send out a couple of his own guys to deal with this relatively small problem. If anything it would have served as useful target practice for them. Lord knows those kids need it if the NCR planned to defeat the Legion. Just another example of their 'wait and see' policies at work.

* * *

"Hey, Thanks for taking care of that for me. I appreciate the help." Jackson turned around and walked into his office, taking a seat at the desk.

"Wait a minute, didn't you say I would get paid for this.?"

"No. I never said you would get paid, I said you might _accidentally_ get supplied. I don't have the authority to contract mercenaries at the outpost. Still… " He reached behind his desk and pulled out a small burlap sack and a NCR serviceman's rifle and laid them on his desk. "A requisition form or two may have gotten lost and they are not going to come check, so here you go."

Gekko walked up to his desk and took the items he set out for her. "Thanks Ranger."

Ranger Jackson leaned back in his chair. "No problem. Just make sure you keep this between us, ok."

"If I may ask, why couldn't you send some of your own men out there? It seems like you have enough soldiers at the Outpost?"

"Soldiers, no, recruits, yes. I have orders to maintain this number of standing forces here at the NCR perimeter at all times. If I sent them out, it would be in violation of my orders. The Outpost isn't a Legion target like New Vegas or the Dam, but the caravans being choked up here is going to bite the NCR hard."

Gekko bid her farewell to Jackson, and made her way over to the barracks. The front room consisted of a bar. Some off-duty soldiers were sitting at it, drinking and talking amongst each other. A few traders and caravaneers were also sitting around the bar. Against the wall were some tables and chairs. The latest news from New Vegas, announced by "Mr. New Vegas" was being broadcast by a radio on the corner of the bar. A small hallway to the left of the bar room lead through a kitchen area to the bunk house. About twenty sets of bunk beds were arranged in the room with footlockers at the foot of each bunk. Rusty old shelving units lined the walls. Some of the bunks were occupied with soldiers and travelers. There were no windows in the room, so Gekko switched on her pip-boy light and found an empty bunk. She set all her things down on the bed and laid across it. She stared up at the empty bed above her in silence for a few minutes, catching her bearings. Then she sat up and opened the sack of supplies she received from Jackson.

Inside was a bunch of armor piercing ammo rounds for her rifles, two "Caravan Lunch Boxes", two weapon repair kits, and about 100 bottle caps. She smiled upon seeing the repair kits. With those she could hopefully get her trusty old Weathered 10mm working again. Sure she could pay the cute Major to do the repair, but she needed to conserve her caps. Maybe she could flirt him into doing the repair for free… Maybe.

Figuring that since she was in a place with fresh food, it would be silly to waste her rations on hand. She decided to go to the bar and buy something.

Gekko sat down at an empty seat near a woman caravaneer. She was small framed, wearing worn out blue jeans, and a leather jacket with a shotgun strapped to her back. Her red hair was in a bun under a very tattered straw hat. Around her sat several empty whiskey bottles and in her hand was a half full one.

"Looking for trouble?" The woman sneered at her.

Gekko was taken aback. "N-no, only looking around,"

"Yeah, well keep those eyes up and turning-or I'll send 'em spinning!"

_What the hell is this bitches problem? _

"I got no time for gawkers… or anyone else looking for something I ain't selling." She took a long swig from her whiskey bottle.

"Ok whatever then." Gekko turned her attention to the bar tender, who had come over to take her order. "Grilled Mantis and vodka on the rocks please."

"Sorry about that…" The woman next to her spoke up. "Been going through a lot of troubles and I've been drinking to forget. But it is only getting me mad instead. Whiskey always get's my temper up. Now more than ever. Drinking used to cause all sorts of trouble for me back West. Before I punched enough people that is. They learned to stay low once the whiskey hit.

"What are you trying to forget?" Gekko asked, as the bar tender set down her food and beverage in front of her. Gekko dropped a handful of caps into her hand.

The lady next to her looked down at the bottle in her hand and sighed. "Lost my caravan heading North. Driver burned to ash. And they didn't even take the cargo, just burned that too."

"Wonder who would do that? I've worked as a caravan guard for years and that does not sound like raiders to me."

The lady shrugged. "My guess is Legion trying to cut off NCR supply lines. Mojave Outpost is proof of that. They've got us locked up tighter than a New Vegas virgin. No caravan's in or out. No arguing with Jackson about it. 'Road's ain't safe' he says. No shit you washed-out old fuck up. Don't need a brotherhood scribe to me that. Even though my caravan is gone, my caravan papers are keeping me here."

Gekko quietly ate her meal while the drunk woman, whom she learned was named Cass, talked on and on about her woes. She finally managed to get away from the bar and headed back to the bunk her bag was sitting on.

_So, tonight I stay here and tomorrow I head for Nipton. Hopefully not to soon after that I will find that motherfucker in the suit. _


	9. Don't Fear The Reaper

**Authors Note:** For what ever reason, this chapter took an ungodly amount of time to write. Writers block, feeling disconnected, what have you. But I got my groove back. So yay! :3

* * *

The rusted, worn out springs of the bunk bed groaned and squeaked beneath Gekko as she tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable spot. She did not sleep very well at all that night. If not for the frightfully uncomfortable beds, it was people shuffling in and out of the bunk room all night, or loud snoring. She could have swore that somebody was off in a corner bunk getting it on too, and she had half a mind to go and kick them, and tell them to take it someplace else. She also had the hum of ED-E's motors constantly buzzing over her head to get used to.

Gekko lifted her left arm to her face and cracked open her eyes just enough to read the time on her pip-boy. 5:24 AM.

"Fuck" she muttered and she flopped over on her stomach. She had barely gotten 5 hours of sleep total that night. She laid still for several minutes with her eyes closed, until a the pressure from a spring poking her in the hip finally irritated her enough. She got out of bed and hastily gathered up all of her belongings.

As she approached the front room of the building she saw a familiar form slumped over on the bar. Cass has fallen asleep in her seat, with an empty whiskey bottle in her hand. Gekko purchased a couple of fresh apples and a Nuka-cola from the bar worker for her breakfast on the go.

The morning air was crisp, cool and refreshing as she stepped outside. She asked an on duty soldier if he knew how to get to Nipton and he told her to go ask the ranger on top of the barracks.

The ranger was a very pale skinned woman with snow white hair. Coincidentally enough her name plaque read "Ghost".

"So you're a courier? I read it on Major Knights log. I need you to do a task for me, if you don't mind walking, and your eyes are good."

Gekko nodded.

"I think there is trouble in Nipton- no traffic from there on the roads, and while I can explain that away, the smoke from the town I can't. I am sure it has been hit- what I need to know is if they survived it. Might be Powder Gangers with all that smoke in the air. If there is anybody left, they are most likely hiding in the Nipton Town Hall. Go there and check it out, let me know what you find."

Gekko exhaled loudly. "I will see what I can do. Is this something you plan on paying me for?"

"Pay?" Ghost snorted. "I'll give you my fucking respect. Everyone around here knows I hate everybody. If the brass back at McCarran hear that you earned my respect that is as good as fucking gold."

Gekko rolled her eyes in response to that.

Ghost glared at her. "Don't think I wouldn't go myself. If trouble has hit Nipton, town's got enough camping spots to rack up some easy kills. But I have my post to keep. Not about to have Jackson bust my ass again, though even if I came back with Caesar's head… rather be sitting here than in a jail cell."

"Ok Ok! I need to pass through the town anyways, so I will think about it."

_Damn rangers here just love to hear themselves talk…_

Ghost gave Gekko the location to Nipton, which she promptly programmed into her pip-boy.

"Mind yourself on the plank." Ghost said, with her back towards Gekko, as Gekko turned around to leave by way of the makeshift wooden planking to the top of the crumbling building.

After a quick latrine stop she was on the road again. Sunlight was starting to brighten up the skies. The light around here could be blinding. Made her wish for a pair of sun glasses some days.

She made sure to keep an eye on her perception indicator. Learning a harsh lesson in Goodsprings reminded her of the brutality in the Mojave. As a caravan guard, she was used to raider attacks. But you were always traveling in a group, and usually knew where the gangs liked to hang out on familiar paths. Working as a lone courier however, was completely different. The main threat was ambush and muggings from people wanting a specific package you were in charge of. As in her case with checkered suit.

After several miles of walking and not much else, a small building on the side of the road materialized into view. A quick check of her pip-boy revealed hostile targets. Across from the building were some old billboards. If there was a gang or raiders hanging out behind those, it was going to be very difficult to get the jump on them. From growing up in the mountains, she had a talent for stealthily sneaking by up in the rocks. But much to her dismay, all that mother nature provided her with was flat dusty sand.

Gekko got off the road and decided to approach in the direction of the billboards, using the desert brush as cover. As she neared the building, she crouched down very small and snuck her way closer. She pulled out her trusty rifle and prayed that ED-E's motor would not give them away. She figured that if she could at least snipe out a couple of them before they all rushed her, she and ED-E stood a better chance of not getting full of bullet holes. Gekko made her way around the edge of the billboard and saw that they looked like your typical raider gang. Probably too drunk and high to shoot straight, but also probably too drunk and high to feel pain. Very dangerous.

*BANG! Click-click BANG!*

She quickly took out two gangers who were sitting by the campfire. She stood up, putting back her rifle and reaching for her 9 mil. ED-E blared his battle theme as he charged in, lasers blasting. After an exchange of gunfire, the pair emerged victorious. But not before Gekko sustained an injury of getting grazed by a bullet on her left leg, and got hit in the stomach by a lead pipe. She held herself together long enough to loot the bodies for ammo, guns for parts, stims, and some food. She then limped her way across the street to the small building. A sign above the door read 'Nevada Highway Patrol Station'. Graffiti covered the front door and boarded up windows. Some of it read 'FUCK YOU' and 'Jackal Gang Rulez!'

Go figure that inside the building were two more Jackal Gangers, and a plethora of giant mantis nymphs. She and ED-E were quickly able to expunge them, without additional injury. Her left leg was bleeding profusely all over her vault jumpsuit by then, and sending waves of pain pulsating up and down her leg. She sat down, and took the opportunity to treat her wounds with a couple of stimpacks. Since it was also coming to the hottest hours of the day, she figured this could be a good place to rest up and stay out of the sun.

One of the Jackal Gangers had on woman's leather armor. It was even in her size. She swapped it out for the men's outfit she had in her possession. It fit so much more comfortably the men's armor, and she was able to patch it up with pieces from her previous one. She discarded of the old leather armor and her torn, bloody vault jumpsuit.

There was also more supplies for her around the patrol station. Inside the jail cells in the back of the building was a dead prospector with a 10mm SMG. A nice addition to her growing collection of guns. If only they had been this easy to come by in the past. She also now had a growing stash of chems from the Powder Gangers and the Jackals. The Med-X and Hydra were always useful to have around, but she didn't have much interest in anything else. Chems were never her style, and the risk of addiction and withdrawal were almost never worth it in her opinion. At least they could probably fetch her a good price with some traders.

She laid out her weapons on a desk for some quick cleaning and maintenance. She had her trusty old varmint rifle which she has been using since she first left home. As well as her Weathered 10mm she got from her father, and a 9mm. She had since added in the .375 magnum and a 10mm SMG to her arsenal. Unfortunately she had less then a dozen magnum rounds left. She took apart the couple of 10mm guns she had come across and tried to fix up her Weathered 10. She walked back towards the jail cells and fired a few shots into the crumbling wall. The gun fired twice before jamming up again.

"FUCK IT!" She screamed in anger. "Why do you keep jamming up like that?"

She walked back to the main room of the building, pulling out the magazine from the dysfunctional weapon and tossed them in her backpack. She gathered up the rest of her things and lifted up her pack. It was starting to get really heavy. She suddenly recalled something about ED-E's companion function including a storage option. She went to it on her pip-boy and selected it. A little hatch on ED-E's back sprang open. There was a surprising amount of room in that little eyebot. She loaded him up with food, chems, some booze from the patrol station, spare gun parts, the magnum, and the 10mm SMG.

The sun had passed it's highest point of the day by the time she stepped out from the patrol station. There were still several hours of daylight left for her to travel to Nipton. If the town had indeed been infiltrated by Powder Gangers, then a sneak attack at night might be in her best interest. Ranger Ghost had mentioned plenty of good spot to hide out for easy kills if it came down to it.

She did a final sweep of the area outside the station. She found some ammo containers she had missed. She also stepped on two frag mines. The second one she found running away from the detonating first one. Goddamn mines were the bane of her existence.

Three bedrolls were placed around a campfire pit. She took the best looking one, rolled it up and put it in her backpack.

In the horizon, billows of black smoke wafted into the air. As she drew closer to the area, she could smell burning rubber, possibly from tires.

She made sure to keep an eye on her pip-boy for hostile targets. As she was just outside the town about a half dozen non-hostile dots showed up, somewhere from within Nipton.

She looked around and noticed immediately that something bad had happened. The town was completely silent, and the smell of death hung in the air. Burning piles of tires were scattered around. She even thought she picked up the scant scent of burning flesh mixed in with the rubber. Two large flags, crimson with a golden bull, were erected at the town's entrance.

A man with glasses and tussled light brown hair, dressed in Powder Ganger attire came running around from behind a building and approached her. "Yeah! Who won the lottery? I did! Smell that air! Couldn't you drink it like booze? Hahahaha…" His voice was very erratic, he almost seemed borderline insane.

"Uhhh" She hesitated for a moment. "A-are you feeling ok?"

"Are you kidding me? Never felt better! YEAH!" He was starting to breath heavy.

"Ok… exactly what sort lottery did you win?" Something was most definitely not right.

"What lottery? THE lottery, that's what lottery! Are you stupid? Only lottery that matters. Oh my God smell that air! Ha ha!"

She eyed him cautiously. "Are you a Powder Ganger?'

"Powder Ganger? What? I mean yeah, used to be, sure! But not no more! Powder Gang is small-time, man! I am a winner! I won the motherfucking lot-ter-y! Hahahaaaa"

"I… I need to get going now."

"Yeah bye." He said quickly as he brushed past her and ran out into the Mojave.

She cautiously walked further into the town, un-holstering her 9mm. She rounded the corner of the a building and was accosted by a horrific sight.

Lining the sides of the street were people, mostly men, strung up on makeshift crosses. There were also the severed heads of about a dozen people, placed upon pikes. The gruesome path lead up to the Nipton Town Hall, where more piked heads, crucifixes, and burning tire piles flanked the entrance.

Some men dressed in crimson uniforms, which resembled those of historic Roman warrior outfits she had seen in a book once, stood on the steps of the town hall. Upon seeing her, one man, wearing darkened biker goggles and a fox skin upon his head approached her, the rest of the men followed.

"Don't worry, I won't have you lashed to a cross like the rest of these degenerates. It is useful that you happened by." His voice was eerie and drawn out. "I want you to witness the fate of the town of Nipton, to memorize _every_ detail. And then, when you move on? I want you to teach everyone you meet the lesson that Caesar's Legion taught here, especially any NCR troops you run across."

She glanced around at the carnage which surrounded them. "What 'lessons' did you teach here?" She was almost afraid to ask.

"Where to begin?" He almost sounded bored. "That they are weak, and we are strong? This much was known already. But the depths of their moral sickness, their dissolution? Nipton serves as the perfect object lesson."

"And what exactly went on here that they deserved this?"

"Nipton was a wicked place, debased and corrupt. It served all comers, so long as they paid. Profligate troops, Powder Gangers, men of the Legion, such as myself - the people of the town here didn't care. It was a town… of whores. For a pittance, the town agreed to lead those it had sheltered into a trap. Only when I sprang it did they realize they were caught inside it, too."

"You captured _everyone_?"

"Yes, and herded them to the center of town. I told them their sins, the foremost being disloyalty. I told them that when Legionaries were disloyal, some were punished, the others made to watch. Then I announced the lottery. Each clutched his ticket, hoping it would set him free. Each did nothing, even when 'loved ones' were dragged away to be killed."

Gekko's eyes widened in disbelief. "You slaughtered innocent civilians?"

"Ha!" He snorted. "Innocent? Hardly. Cowardly though. They outnumbered us, yet not once did they try to resist. They stood and watched as their fellows were butchered, crucified, and burned, one-by-one. They stood and hoped their turn would not come. Each cared only for himself."

Gekko stood in silence for several long seconds. Fear rang through her mind. "I'll do as you ask." it seemed like her voice was betraying her. But she knew at present she did not stand a chance against these men.

"Then I bid you 'vale' - until we meet again." With that he turned and left. His fellow legionaries and their mongrels following him.

Gekko tensed up as she watched them leave, a cool evening breeze made every hair on her body stand on end.


	10. One Headlight

**Author's note:** Wowweee this is a long one. Fun to write too, at least towards the end. *hint hint* And yes I am well aware of the whole Major Knight confirmed bachelor thing. I have played this game like four times (male and female). But it's my story damn it! A girls gotta loosen her bullets somehow, ya know?

* * *

After all of the Legionaries were out of site, Gekko turned around to survey the area. She knew well of the Legion through her travels, but this was her first time ever meeting them face to face.

She looked up at all of the crucified people. Some were quietly moaning in agony, others completely still and silent. Regardless of what alleged deeds or crimes these people committed, none of them seemed to be severe enough to warrant such a heinous punishment like being tortured to death. She pulled out her 9mm and one by one, walked up to each cross and put a bullet in their heads. These people were too far gone to save, and that was the only comfort she could possible give them. A quick death. She came up to the last person. A man wearing an NCRCF outfit. He opened his eyes and looked into hers. It was like she could hear his voice inside her, thanking her for her kindness. Gekko closed her eyes and grimaced as she pulled the trigger, blood spattering as his body went limp.

Darkness was drawing in around her. She checked her pip-boy. 9:30 PM and nobody was nearby. She went inside one of the small houses. At least she could stay here tonight. Unfortunately this meant setting back her plans to find Checkered Suit by a couple of days at the least. She knew that with every passing minute he was getting further and further away from her. But she had to go and report this back to the NCR outpost.

She made herself a dinner of squirrel on a stick, banana yucca, and some Sunset Sarsaparilla she found inside the fridge. She remembered that she still had the two frag mines she disarmed in Primm and set them down near the entrance to the small house. At least those and ED-E should help keep her safe in case anything came by to visit while she slept. Inside one of the wardrobes in the bedroom she dug out a pair of black cloth shorts and an oversized faded gray men's sweatshirt. She climbed into the large bed and quickly drifted off into a deep sleep.

Light shining in through the grimy windows played at Gekko's eyelids. Slowly her eyes fluttered open and adjusted to the brightness. She lifted up her pip-boy. 7 AM. She sat up in the bed and stretched. Despite the grim circumstances, it was the first comfortable nights sleep she had had in a long while. She took a quick shower, changed back into her leather armor, and packed away her new sleepwear into her backpack. Inside the main room she took up her frag mines and sat down to a quick breakfast of stale Fancy Lad Snack Cakes. She scavenged the house for anything else useable. She found a faded pair of woman's jeans, with a hole in the left knee, and a black tank top among other useful things like clean water, stims, and caps. Inside another house she found a nice fitting pink zip up sweatshirt, more caps, ammo, stimpacks and a few bottles of vodka.

A house flanked with sandbags at the door piqued her interest. She made her way across the dirt path to it and cracked open the door.

"Jesus Christ!" She shouted, greeted by a large metal crate housing three bark scorpions clawing to get out at her. ED-E whizzed past, firing his lasers at the scorpions. Since it seemed the scorps were not getting out of the cage, she decided to just let ED-E take pot shots at them while she explored the rest of the house.

As she stepped towards the hallway, she heard that familiar and dreaded click and fast beeping as her foot landed on something.

"DAMN IT!" She cursed as she dove into the hallway to avoid the blast. Her body landed on some hard metallic disc obscured by papers, and she heard another click. To her horror the cage opened and two remaining bark scorpions were bearing down on her. No time to get up, she pulled out her pistol and rolled onto her back. She began firing madly into the scorpions. One of them swiped it's stinger at her, and she managed to scoot out of the way just in time. ED-E fired two well placed laser blasts into the scorpions tail and it fell dead. Gekko got off the ground just as ED-E finished off the last scorpion.

In the doorway to the kitchen lay a dead Legionary, a large bullet hole through his head. Just inside, a rigged shotgun hung on the wall. The gun looked to be in pretty bad condition, but the shells inside of it could be of some use down the road. She tried to loot the room, but the fridge and every single cabinet was locked. She had a screw driver and some bobby pins on her, but she really sucked at lock picking.

"Eh, what the hell." She mumbled to her self as she set to work picking open the fridge. After several minutes of cursing and one snapped bobby pin, she jimmied the lock open. Inside the fridge was a rather impressive alcohol stash. She helped herself to a couple of bottles and moved on. Some boxed food was stored in a few other cabinets.

The bedroom had several locked containers full of ammo, as well as a shotgun in rather good condition, which she took with her. There was also a safe full of caps and pre-war paper money. As she made her way towards the entrance, she spied a safe tucked behind the toilet in the bathroom.

As she entered the bathroom, her foot landed on yet another frag mine. She managed to get out and duck around the corner before it went off.

"Son of a bitching frag mines…" She grumbled as she crouched in front of the safe. She dug out her lock picking set one more time and worked at the lock for several minutes before it finally clicked open.

Inside was a grenade rifle, several grenades, and some note about vital essence.

She returned the contents back into the safe and closed it. "As useful as you are, I am not lugging you across the Mojave, at least not yet." She made a note to herself about the grenade launcher in her pip-boy.

Doubtful that there were any survivors, she still decided to do a quick check of the town hall, see if there was anything of use.

Inside of the large entranceway lay a few dead bodies, judging by the dress, they were townspeople. She noticed that some of them had the aforementioned raffle tickets still clutched in their hands. None of the bodies had any sort of caps, weapon or ammo at all. Legion must have made sure of that. A long desk was situated to the right of the entrance. On top of it lay an old, very worn key. There was a small, almost illegible tag attacked to it. She was able to make out the word 'basement'. On the other side of the desk she spotted a frag mine. Wonderful. But at least now she knew to look out for more.

A low growl from somewhere in the halls caught her attention. ED-E indicated three hostile targets. She pulled out her sidearm and proceeded towards the hallway. Three large mongrels came charging down the stairs at her. She quickly took out two of them as ED-E disposed of the third. Fucking Legion must have left them here as a surprise for whomever came looking for the civilians, or loot.

Down in the basement was a very nice stash of ammo, including more magnum rounds. There was also some guns. She decided to leave those alone due to limited carrying space. She also found some stims, Med-X, and chems.

The rest of the town hall held a few more mongrels, which were easy enough to dispose of, several frag mines, and not much else. Until she came to the mayor's office. His computer terminal was still operational. The pass code for it was rather weak, so she was easily able to hack it. There she found some of the Mayor's journal entries. Of particular interest where the ones where he describes a man from the Legion calling himself Mr. Fox, making an offer with the town to trap Powder Gangers in exchange for good favor with the Legion. Just reading about it made her stomach sick. After scavenging a few more useful things, including a copy of the Big Book of Science, one of her favorite series, she left the building to head back for the Mojave Outpost.

On her way out of town, she spied the Nipton General Store. Figuring it may have some more useful loot in it, she stepped inside.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" An alarmed voice rang out in the darkness. Gekko turned on her pip-boy light. A lone man sat in a chair near the stores cash register.

"First I get my legs smashed, and then in walks the Powder Gangers' grim fucking reaper. What the fuck have you got against us, man? Jesus fucking Christ, if you want me dead just give me 15 Med-X and I'll fucking O.D. for ya, ok? Fuck!"

Gekko blinked a few times, "Uh… ok… who the fuck are you and how and I the Powder Gangers' 'Grim Fucking Reaper'?"

"You're the one who fucking single handedly wiped a bunch of us out in Primm, as well as some of our other camps. Can't fucking mistake you with that crazy fucking hair of yours. You're looking at the second place winner of the Nipton Lottery. Prize was I got to live, but they beat my fucking legs with hammers. I'm fucking crippled, get it?"

Gekko's face cringed at the sound of that. "I think I have some Med-X I can spare you."

"Then you're a fucking dream come true ain't ya? How much you gonna give me?"

Gekko took off her backpack and rummaged around in it. "I have three of them right here you can have. I don't really use the stuff much."

"That's it huh? Well it is still better then nothing." He said begrudgingly as he took the Med-X from her.

"I gave you some Med-X, now you tell me about this lottery."

He complied. "It ain't like we came to Nipton to play it! Me and my crew had it worked out to kidnap some NCR troopers who come to town to get laid. Had it all worked out with the scumbag mayor. We were gonna ransom them off, keep their weapons for ourselves, a nice score. We get in position and next thing we know, we're surrounded by those fucking Legion freaks. They drag us and everybody else into the center of town. And that asshole with the dog on his head, he starts talking about how we're bad people! He gave all of us a fucking lottery ticket. First up was 'Lucky Losers". They got decapitated. Then came the crucifixions. Goddamn but those went on and on and on. Third place got enslaved. I got the fuck beat out of my legs, and the winner they let go free."

"I see…" Gekko scratched at her stitched up bullet wound, taking it all in. "So did they do anything special with the mayor?"

"Him? When his ticket came up, they burned him alive on a pile of tires."

"Guess the asshole got what was coming to him then." She shrugged. She bid the Powder Ganger farewell and headed off for the Outpost.

The two statues of NCR rangers were a welcoming sight after a day of travel in the hot Nevada sun. The journey back was uneventful. She decided to skip resting at the patrol station and just trucked on through straight to the Outpost.

"So you're back." Ranger Ghost greeted her from her post on top of the barracks.

"You guys have got some serious shit going down." Gekko approached her. "Legion took out Nipton. Killed everyone."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" Ranger Ghost rubbed at her forehead with her hand. "They have come this far West? Fuck! Now I am even more on edge then ever." She heaved out a deep sigh and beckoned Gekko over. She pulled a handful of caps out of her pocket and gave them to Gekko. "Thanks for hoofing it there and back for me. Go and buy yourself something to eat downstairs." Ghost turned away and looked back towards the road.

_Brahmin steak for me tonight!_ She thought to herself as she made her way into the barracks bar. After placing her order, she glanced around the dimly lit room for a place to sit.

"Hey! Didn't think I'd be seeing you back here any time soon!" A familiar voice greeted her from behind.

Gekko turned to find Cass sitting in her usual spot at the bar. A drunk soldier sat comfortably next to her. Empty whiskey bottles surrounded the both of them.

"I see you've already got some company this evening." She nodded towards the handsome young trooper.

"Yeah, something like that." Cass smiled at her.

Gekko spied Major Knight sitting alone, reading, at a table in the corner. "Maybe I'll go find myself some company too."

Cass wished her good luck and turned back to her soldier companion.

"Hey! Mind if I join you?"

Knight looked up from his gun magazine. "Oh, you're that courier. Sure take a seat." He set aside his magazine, happy for some company.

"You can call me Gekko." She sat down in the chair across from him.

"Gekko huh? That's… a pretty unusual name."

"I'm a pretty unusual person." She winked at him. "So, do you have a name, or should I just call you Major Knight?"

"Andrew, but you can call me Andy. Now I am interested, what makes you such an unusual person?" He leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Most people can guess from my hair that I am not your typical girl." She laughed.

"Nah, I actually think it kind of suits you."

"Really? But you just met me." She giggled.

"I can still have my opinions about you."

"I guess that's true. So long as they are good opinions."

"Well, if you're a good person, then I have good opinions."

"And what makes a good person to you?" She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and cradling her cheeks in the palms of her hand. She looked into his eyes intensely.

By this point he was finding her wit captivating. And she was damn good looking to boot. The bar tender came over with her Brahmin steak and set it down on the table.

"Mind if I buy you a drink?" He asked her.

"I would love a drink, thanks." She gave him an appreciative smile. "Can I have a banana yucca juice with lemon and vodka?" She asked the bartender. Knight ordered a whiskey and Nuka. The Bartender left to get their drinks.

"Vodka drinker?" He asked her.

"Usually. I just find it suits me best. I also do beer and sweet wines from time to time. I like how vodka will mix with almost anything when you are looking to get drunk quick."

Knight laughed. "Yeah I know what you mean. Most soldiers just want to get drunk off duty and forget about the war. As much as the brass hates it, they allow it. So long as you are fit to serve out your patrol on the next day. So, I really am interested. Tell me more about yourself. I am curious about what makes you so 'unusual'."

She laughed and smiled at him. "I am really not that strange. I grew up in Oregon. Left home to find my own life. Worked for several years doing jobs like caravan guarding and Brahmin ranch guard. Most recently I am a Mojave Express courier. To put it simple, I like to travel a lot and shoot things. You're average wastelander."

The bar tender returned and set down their drinks

"Oregon huh? From our Northern territories around Klamath?" He took a sip of his whiskey and Nuka.

"No, further North then that. Ever heard of New Salem?"

"Yeah. Richest city on the West Coast next to Shady Sands and New Vegas. A lot of people in the NCR call it the 'Gateway to the North'."

"And they aren't kidding. North of New Salem it is so thick with xenophobic tribes. Old world cities like Portland and Seattle were the biggest targets in the region, and got nuked to shit. So in a way Old Salem was mostly spared. The mountains are really savage up there too. If you don't know how to survive in the mountains, you're a goner."

"You seem really able to handle yourself for someone from a rich city."

"Ok, I didn't really grow up _in_ New Salem. But my family descends from some of it's founders. But I did live there for a little while. I actually grew up out in the mountains East of the city. I am built to be a survivor. Surviving a bullet to the head is testament to that."

"You were shot in the head?" He nearly choked on his drink.

She pointed at the healing stitches on her left temple. "Do you listen to Mr. New Vegas? I am the Goodsprings package courier he has talked about."

"No shit! That's you?" His eyes widened in shock.

A couple of hours later, their small table was covered with empty glasses.

"So then I find out that the whole time I was out here _busting_ ass and risking my life for her, and _everyone_ else's sake, she was back home _fucking around_ like I didn't even exist." Major Knight leaned back in his chair, arms folded, shaking his head.

"Damn that sucks..." She idly ran her finger around the rim of her near empty glass, listening intently to his story.

"You have no idea! You know, I am not sure which is worse. The fact that she wrote me about the whole thing, instead of telling it to my face. Or the fact that she expected me to forgive her for getting knocked up by some other guy. And suggest just getting rid of the pregnancy and pretending like it never happened. Just who in the hell does she think I am anyways?" He threw his arms in the air in exasperation.

No, both of those sound really shitty to me. Trust me Andy." She thrust a finger towards him. "Women can be bitches like that. I mean… well I don't have any examples for you, but they can be reeeallly bitches, errrr um bitchy." She giggled.

"I think you have had enough to drink." He chuckled.

"I think you have had enough as well mister! You may look fine just sitting there, but I bet the moment you try to stand, you are going to be flat on your ass."

"Nah I am fine. Don't forget I'm a soldier. We can hold our liquor pretty damn good." He pounded down the last of his drink.

"Last call for the bar." The bar tender startled them both as she approached their table and started to collect empty glasses. 'We are closing down in 15 minutes."

"Holy shit 1 AM already?" Knight looked over at Gekko. "I am good to cash out if you're done."

Gekko nodded to him. "Thanks Lacey." He said as he counted out the caps for their drinks.

"You…you sure you don't want me to help with the bill?" She asked as he handed Lacey the caps.

"Nope, I've got more then enough to cover it. Besides, you were nice enough to keep me company and listen to me bitch about my ex-fiancée."

Gekko finished her drink. "Hey, no sense in both of us just sitting all by our _damn _selves. And you're pretty good company. I've been spending too much time on my own lately, so it has been nice having someone to… talk to." She reached out and touched the back of this left hand.

Major Knight rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Hey, if it's not too forward of me to ask, mind taking this someplace else. I know of a good place that is a little more _private_."

"So long as it is no strings attached that you are looking for, then I would be more then happy to accompany you. I am not looking for any relationships right now." She gave him a seductive grin as she lightly rubbed the back of his hand.

"No, I am not looking for anything right now either. It is just well… you know…" He shifted in his chair.

"Hon, you don't have to explain it to me. Trust me, I get it."

"You know." He began with a nervous laugh. "I have never done anything like _this_ before."

"What, you mean a one nighter with a hottie you met at the bar? And you call yourself a soldier?' She giggled.

"Well yeah. I spent the past several years being a good faithful man to my ex, only to find out she was slutting all over the Mojave. I guess you could say I am finally feeling a little… gah… what is the word I am thinking of?"

"Rebellious?"

"That one works."

"Well I am glad I get to break your one-night-stand cherry then." She teased. She stood up, wobbly at first and bent down to pick up her backpack.

"Geez don't say it like that." He blushed as he stood up with her. "Here let me get that for you." He took her backpack from her and effortlessly slung it over his shoulder.

"Shall we?" She reached out and took his hand. They walked past Cass, who was getting awfully cozy with her young soldier companion. Gekko gave her a smile and wink and they headed for the exit. Cass returned with a smile and a thumbs-up.

Knight led her around the perimeter of the Outpost, keeping in the shadows. "Technically this is a no-no when you are on active duty." He quietly explained. "But as long as you don't get caught, then everyone pretty much turns a blind eye to it." They made their way over towards where old cars and trucks were piled against the steep mountainside. They giggled as he pulled her towards the back of an old truck, after nearly getting seen by the sniper on duty. He knocked softly on the door, and no sound came from within.

"Good, it is not in use." He said as he pulled the door open.

Inside was an old mattress on the floor of the truck. Empty liquor bottles and cigarette butts littered the floor. They were barely fully inside the truck as they began fervently kissing and groping each other.

"Shit" Knight stopped abruptly. "I don't have a… umm…."

Gekko cut him off. "Not a problem, I am always prepared." She opened up one of the several pockets on her backpack and pulled out a small, square white package with 'Lucky Lad' in green letters labeled on it.

"Oh and can you do something about the robot? It is a little weird having it in here with us.."

She gently pushed ED-E out of the truck and set him on 'wait command' as she closed the doors.

* * *

After my husband beta read this for me, he called it "smutty". Seriously, it is not *that* smutty. Just very suggestive. He is such a pansy sometimes. BTW we just celebrated our third wedding anniversary on Tuesday June 28th.


	11. Ace of Spades

It was a beautiful morning in the Mojave as Gekko entered the barracks to grab a quick breakfast. And thankfully it was a very un-awkward morning between her and the Major. He even got her Weathered 10 in top working order before the start of his shift. He tried to explain that the problem she was having had something about how the gun was unique from other 10mm pistols. Nomenclature mumbo jumbo that was a little bit above her understanding. Either way, it worked now and that was enough to make her happy. She took a seat at the bar and ordered a large plate of scrambled gecko eggs.

"Well now, look who's here!" A familiar voice came from behind her. She turned around in her seat to see Cass waltzing through the doors.

Cass sat down in the stool next to her. "So, how'd it go last night?"

"I suppose I could ask you the same thing." Gekko said with a wink. "I don't normally kiss and tell you know. But I guess I could say that it was a _very_ good night."

Cass laughed. "I don't think I've ever had a bad night with a soldier."

The man working the morning bar shift set down Gekko's eggs. Cass looked at them hungrily. "Damn that looks good. I'll take the same thing she's having."

"Guess both of us need a good re-fueling after last night, huh?" Gekko ribbed Cass before she dug into her eggs.

"You could say that again. That is what I like about younger men. They at least have the energy to keep up. Private Charlie, the guy I have been spending time with lately. He is practically a kid still, but sure as hell knows how to please."

"Are you guys dating?"

Cass shook her head. "Oh no, not even close. More like just keeping each other from going bored out of our fucking minds in this place."

"You know Cass, I am getting back on the road today. Care to partner up with me for a while?" Gekko suggested.

"Can't. Even though my caravan is long gone, my papers keep me rooted to this spot, and there is not a damn thing I can do about it. And trust me I would rather be anywhere then here." Cass stared down at her food, which had just arrived.

* * *

Gekko got up from her seat after paying for her meal. "Well, I need to be heading off. Hope things can turn around for you soon, Cass."

"We'll see about that. You take care out there and don't get into too much trouble."

Gekko left the Outpost behind and made the day trip back to Nipton. The stench of death was starting to overwhelm the town. However, it was the only really good place to stay before Novac. She made a quick stop in the general store to check in on the crippled Powder Ganger. He was still begrudgingly stuck in the same spot. But she left him with a couple boxes of food.

She stayed the night in the same house she did the other day. In the morning she decided to pick up the grenade rifle she had found and got the hell out of that God-forsaken town. The only obstacle she ran into on her way to Novac was a small group of raiders camped near the road. Naturally, she stepped on a frag mine they set out, which alerted them to her presence. With her trusty pistol back at her side, they went down pretty easy. It felt good to have her old gun back. She had been shooting with that thing since her hands were barely big enough to hold it. Having something so familiar was a blessing when out all by yourself in the wastes.

The large green dinosaur, which signified the town of Novac was a welcoming sight. And a town with living people in it was also nice, after the Primm situation and the Nipton massacre. Next to the town entrance were a couple of ladies operating a kitchen out of a large tent. She found out from them that rooms were available to rent in the motel. Also that a group of men, one of them being checkered suit, had been there several days before.

Inside the dark, crumbling main office of the motel, an elderly woman with very large reading glasses, clad in a grimy green dress was sweeping behind the desk. She looked up upon hearing the front door open.

"Well, welcome to you." She gave Gekko a warm greeting. "You look tired from the road. Why don't you relax a spell, let this fine town take care of you."

Gekko nodded. "Thanks, and you are?"

"Oh, what am I doing? I got to thinking about making a good impression and plain forgot to tell you my name. I'm Jeannie May. I take care of folks here at the motel. Long as they aren't trouble makers."

"How much for a room here?"

"I'll give you a good flat rate of 100 caps, and you can stay here as long as you like. Least till the busy season comes. Sound good?" Jeannie May offered.

"Sounds good to me." Gekko counted out 100 caps in exchange for a room key. "Say, have you seen a man wearing a checkered suit pass through here recently?" She hoped to gain some more information on her assailant.

"Well he may have been wearing a fancy outfit, but he wasn't any kind of gentleman to me. Had his nose stuck so high in the air, you couldn't see it above the clouds. City folk, they always think they deserve better then what they got. Those hoodlums he was with seemed to know Manny for some reason. He's our daytime sniper, up in the dinosaurs mouth."

"Thanks." Gekko nodded to Jeannie May as she turned to leave the office. Her next stop would be paying a visit to this 'Manny', first thing in the morning.

"Have a good nights rest dear. Your room is the first door on the second story, above the office."

Her new room was actually decently large. It was dark, with boarded up windows, crumbing walls and stains on the bed and carpet. But as far as digs in the wasteland goes, it wasn't anything too shabby. The queen-size bed even had sheets on it. A luxury she had not enjoyed in well over a week. There was storage for her things, a safe underneath the pre-war TV, and a working refrigerator.

Gekko put herself to work unpacking her backpack, as well as unloading ED-E. It was doubtful that there would every be any "busy season" like Jeannie May had mentioned. So as far as she was concerned, this place was hers indefinitely. She locked her extra guns and ammo in the safe, leaving out her rifle, shotgun, and pistol. Those were about all she would need to get by for now. There was some boxed food already in the fridge, and she decided to add her collection to it, as well as all the various beverages and alcohol she had gathered thus far. Her growing collection of chems went into the first aid box in the bathroom. She had to remember to sell those sometime, they were starting to take up space.

She changed out of her leather armor and into her sleeping clothes. The bed was remarkably comfortable. She had no trouble getting to sleep that night.

Gekko was awoken some time later by her stomach howling at her. Unable to ignore it, she sat up, swung her legs over the side of the bed, and checked the time on her pip-boy. 10:30 am. "Fuck" she mumbled, rubbing at her eyes. "How the hell long did I sleep?" She changed into the pair of faded out blue jeans she found in nipton, and a white tank top. Consumed a couple boxes of dandy boy apples, and was out the door.

On the left side of the obnoxious green t-rex, was a set of creaky wooden stairs, which led to the inside of the dino's belly.

"Welcome to the Dino Bite gift shop. My name is Cliff. If you're here for the t-rex figurines, you're just in time. There are still a few left." A man behind the counter greeted her.

"Actually, I heard there was a snipers nest in here."

"No one ever wants to buy the t-rexes." He begrudgingly said under his breath. "The snipers are up the stairs there to your left and through the door."

"Thanks." Gekko nodded to him as she made her way up the stairs.

A tan skinned man, who looked close to her age, turned around to greet her. "What's goin' on, man?" He had a dark brown, well trimmed moustache and beard, with a shaved head. He wore a faded red sweater with an armored green vest over it, and a red beret.

"Just looking for someone. Who might you be?"

"I'm Manny Vargas. I'm on security detail here. You see a rifle barrel sticking out of the dinosaurs mouth, you got a fifty-fifty shot it's me. Otherwise it's Boone." He answered her.

_Ah, so you're Manny. _

"I am looking for a man in a checkered suit. Rumor has it he has passed through here recently. Do you know anything about him?"

"Sure, I know him. What do you want with him?"

Gekko pointed to the healing stitches on her left temple. "I suppose you could say I have a score to settle with him."

"Heh, I'm not surprised. Guy seemed like he would do what ever it takes to get what he wants. Probably makes a lot of enemies. I can help you find him, but I've got some problems of my own that need to be taken care of. Maybe we can help each other out."

_Or maybe I can kick you in the nuts until you tell me what I want to know._ Gekko briefly pondered the thought. "Ok, what do you need?"

"This place, it's home for me now and I want that to be for good." He explained. "The only resource we have here is junk. Without that, the people would have nothing to trade. They would have to leave. Most of it comes from the old rocket test site up the road, but a bunch of ghouls took it over lately and we can't get in."

"Ok Manny, what are you getting at here?" She was starting to grow impatient.

"Well, they gotta go. Or else this will become a ghost town before too long. Does not matter to me how you do it. Just get the ghouls out of there and I will tell you what you need to know."

"I will give it some thought." Gekko replied as she turned to leave.

Not wanting to waste her time doing someone else's chores, Gekko decided to hunt around for any clues on her own. Instead of finding leads on the man she was looking for, she ended up with a growing list of people wanting her to do work for them. A wayward singer looking for new work, a sketchy doctor needing *clean* medical supplies, an injured NCR ranger worried about his buddies stationed down the road, and a Brahmin rancher whose livestock has been getting slaughtered nightly. She even ran into Victor, who suddenly decided to up and leave Goodsprings after 'living' there for several years.

_For fucks sake I am not a Goddamn mercenary!_

The sky was growing dark by the time Gekko admitted defeat to herself. She headed on over to the snipers nest, so she could tell Manny she would take the job. The info just better be damn good.

"Goddamn it! Don't sneak up on me like that. What do you want?" A different man was on duty this time, glaring at her expectantly through his sunglasses. He also had a shaved head and wore a red beret.

"Nice to meet you too." She grumbled. She recalled something about there being another sniper in town. "I was looking for Manny."

"He works days."

A loud bang came from the door behind her. Both of them jumped as the sniper reached for his rifle.

"It's ok, it is just my robot." She cracked open the door enough to let ED-E in. He beeped at her as he buzzed through the door. "Are you always this jumpy?"

"I think you should leave." The sniper replied, eyeing ED-E suspiciously. "Wait, you just got into town didn't you? Maybe you shouldn't go. Not just yet."

Gekko was thrown off by the sudden 180 degree change in demeanor. "So… why do you want me to stay all of a sudden?"

"I need someone I can trust. You're a stranger. That's a start."

Gekko cocked her eyebrows. 'What, you only trust strangers or something?"

"I said it was a start." He snapped at her. "This town... Nobody looks me straight in the eye anymore. I want you to find something out for me. I don't know if there is anything to find, but I need someone to try."

_Goddamn it! Not another person looking for someone to do their work for them. What is it with this town?_

"My wife was taken from our home by Legion slavers one night, while I was on watch. They knew when to come and which route to take, and they only took Carla. Someone set it up. I don't know who."

"So, you are trying to track down your wife then?"

"My wife's dead. I want the son of a bitch who sold her. Just find whoever did it, and I promise I will make it worth your while."

Gekko sighed. Of all the people in this town needing help, this guy sounded like he needed it the most. And he was the only one who mentioned a payment. Which there was no denying it, caps were always needed. "Fine, I will see what I can do. What if I find this person?"

"Bring him out here in front of the nest while I am on duty. I work nights." He took off his red beret and tossed it to her. "Put this on, it will be our signal so I know you are standing with him. I'll take care of the rest."

"One quick question before I leave. Since you are on nights here, do you know anything about the Brahmin slaughter that has been going on at McBride's?"

"Only that it happens around midnight and that it sounds like a mini-gun being fired. I can't see over there from the nest, and any time I have gone to look, I could not see anyone near by." He answered her.

"Ok, thanks for that bit of help anyways." Gekko turned to leave.

"Oh and one more thing." The sniper spoke up. "We shouldn't speak again. Not until this is over. No one in town knows that I know what happened to my wife. Best they never do. Or the Legion will be after me next."

There was only a couple hours until midnight, and Gekko was not feeling tired. Not yet at least. She decided to camp out for a while on a ledge facing Dusty McBride's house. She listen to the suave, sexy voice of Mr. New Vegas read off the recent news on her pip-boy. The time passed quickly as she watched the Brahmin root around in their pen and listened to some soft tunes from New Vegas Radio. She made sure to check often for anything wandering around the area. Most people in the town seemed to turn in rather early, so it was very quiet around her.

As midnight approached, she turned off her radio and paid close attention to her pip-boy screen. A couple of minutes later, a non-hostile marker showed up. She looked towards the area it came from. Over by the mountains to the West of town. She scanned hard in that direction as the dot moved closer. But nobody was there. Maybe ED-E was malfunctioning? The moonlight shimmered off of something next to the Brahmin pen catching her attention.

Suddenly a blue super mutant flashed into view where the shimmer was, holding a mini-gun. Flashes of light blazed from the end of the barrel as the mutant gunned down an innocent Brahmin. Gekko grabbed her rifle and opened fire. The bullets barely seemed to affect the mutant, but were enough to turn his attention towards her. Gekko opted for her shotgun and charged in, shooting at the mini-gun. She disarmed the mutant, who pulled out a large make-shift club crafted from a hunk of concrete attached to long poles of rebar. She ducked as the club swung right past her head. She aimed up and fired into the mutants face point blank. It took several shots from both her and ED-E before they were finally able to bring him down.

Super Mutants were nothing new to her. But she had never seen a blue one like this before. Perhaps it was some sort of different mutation. He was also markedly more difficult to bring down compared to other super mutants she had dealt with in the past. She quickly searched the body and found some sort of journal. Inside was a bunch of non-coherent rambling and something about the screams of Brahmin keeping the author up at night.


	12. Paint It Black

**Authors Note: **I wrote part of this while holding my bunny. She disapproves of this story. But then again, she disapproves of everything. I knew it was going to be a few chapters before I *finally* recruited Boone. But dang did it take longer then I thought.

Hope you are enjoying the story thus far. I know I am! ^_^

* * *

"Alright, you got yourself a deal. I will take care of the ghouls." Gekko sighed. She did not want to do this pet project, but had little choice by now.

Manny turned around to face her. A hot, afternoon wind blew through the mouth of the dinosaur. "Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it."

"So, tell me more about what is going on. Are we talking regular ghouls or ferals?"

"Both. But the ferals are the ones giving us most of the problems. They also keep wandering in to town and attacking people. Though the other ghouls being around aren't much better. I'm sure you understand how must people feel about ghouls."

"Not really. I've never had a problem with ghouls. Some of the nicest people I've ever met. Why, are you guys a bunch of ghoul haters?" She gave him a questioning look.

He shrugged. "Well, I personally don't care about them one way or the other. But if they are bothering the rest of the town, then they are bothering me, and need to be dealt with."

"I see. Oh and by the way I ran into the other sniper while looking for you last night."

"Did you? Yeah that is Boone. I would have introduced you to him yesterday… but we aren't exactly on friendly terms right now."

Gekko bit her lower lip. "I got the feeling that he isn't really on friendly terms with _anyone_."

"Trust me he didn't always used to be like that. He and I go back a long ways. I used to spot for him back when we were enlisted in the NCR first recon. After we got out I talked him into settling down here."

"Why are you on bad terms then?" Gekko leaned casually against the door and folded her arms. She wanted to press for more information, without drawing on any suspicion.

"Me and his wife, we didn't see eye to eye on some things. We had some pretty big arguments. One day she turns up missing, and he hasn't said a word to me since."

"What would you two argue about?"

Manny rolled his eyes. "Man you name it. See, I grew up in North Vegas. Me and my cousins. We were some bad seeds. Got in with The Great Khans. I loved it. Then something happened, and I couldn't handle it anymore. So, I enlisted. Earned my future. Brought down my best friend to share that future with me. And here was this woman who was too good for it, trying to take him away. Sooo yeah. I didn't see eye to eye with the bitch."

Gekko's eyes widened at that last remark. She got the inkling in the back of her mind that this was a little more than your average 'bros before hoes' jealousy. "Did you have anything to do with his wife disappearance? Like convincing her to leave or something?"

"Believe me. When I heard the news, my first thought was, I owe somebody. Big. I figured Boone would come around eventually. But he hasn't. And I'm starting to think that if he doesn't find her, things will never go back to the way they were."

"Wow Manny, that is a pretty harsh thing to say. I mean, shouldn't you be more supportive of someone you consider your best friend? Even if you didn't always agree?"

"Before you go thinking that, maybe you should have met her. That girl didn't have one friend in this whole town. Didn't want any. All she did was sit in her room all day and make herself miserable. And she went out of her way to be rude."

"Still, that was his wife. Was she really all that bad, or were you just a little bit _jealous_?"

Manny shifted uncomfortably where he was standing. "Look, you can believe what ever you want. I'm just telling you the truth. Take it for what it is worth to you."

_Wow idiot, way to draw attention to yourself. _She mentally cursed herself.

Gekko rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry, didn't mean to step on your toes like that. You really do seem like an alright guy, who just got misunderstood. I will do what I can to help you out."

"Thanks again." Manny nodded to her.

"Prick..."Gekko mumbled as she left the snipers nest and stopped at the desk of the small gift shop. She decided to put the ghoul hunting off for a day, not only to take some time out off all the traveling she had done lately, but also trying to find out the info for the man called Boone.

"Hey welcome back! What can I do for you today? Here to get your t-rex?" Cliff greeted her.

"Do you have any guns, ammo or other supplies?"

Cliff sighed. "Yeah I do carry some of that. You sure you don't want a t-rex?"

Gekko smiled. She at least admired his dedication, albeit a tad pushy. "Pretty sure. It's not that I don't find them cute. Carrying space is limited when traveling, you know what I mean?" Gekko looked through the assortment of ammo Cliff had, picking out any 5.56mm rounds and 12 gage shotgun shells she could find. "So, running the local store, you must be in the know about a lot of things around town."

Cliff leaned on the counter of his shop. "Well, I can't say I know as much as Jeannie May, she is kind of the head of social affairs in town. Or at least likes to think she is. But I do keep up to date on a lot of the local happenings around here too."

"I was curious because I heard this rumor that a woman has gone missing from the town lately."

"Oh yeah I know a little bit about that. Our night shift sniper, Boone, his wife suddenly disappeared a short while back. He has been all out of sorts about it since."

"Mmmm, do you think she ran away or something?" Gekko closed the ammo case and dug out her caps to pay for the couple boxes of rounds she found.

Cliff shrugged as he re-counted the caps she passed over to him. "To tell you the truth, I really don't know. Didn't really know her all to well. They seemed happy enough together I guess. Boone was usually the one who came into the store to buy things. Any time she was in here, she had this sour look on her face like the place smelled bad. Best I can remember, shop smelled fine that day."

Gekko silently had to agree with Boones wife on that one. Any deteriorating old wooden room baking in the desert heat was bound to have a musky odor to it. And this little shop was no exception. "Well, I best be going. Thanks for the rounds."

She made her way across the small town to the Brahmin rancher's home. Dusty McBride answered the door. "Well look who it is! Come on in and take a seat."

Gekko obliged as she entered the home and took a seat at the kitchen table with Dusty and his wife. "So, did you happen to find a super mutant outside your Brahmin pen this morning?"

"We did." He answered her. "I'm guessin' you have an explanation for that?"

"I do." Gekko pulled the small, tattered journal from the back pocket of her blue jeans. "He had this on him. It doesn't make much sense but sort of explains the killings. Sorry I couldn't save your Brahmin though. Strangest thing, he was invisible most of the time."

"I think I have heard something about those before." Mrs. McBride spoke up as her husband looked through the journal. "Blue super mutants that turn invisible. Called 'night-kids', or something like that. Supposedly they live in the mountains off to the West of here."

Dusty wordlessly got up from his seat and walked over to the fridge. He returned a minute later with his arms full of huge Brahmin steaks. "Well little missy, the Misses and I definitely think you ought to be paid for helping us out. We are running low on caps, but now have more steaks then we know what to do with. We were hoping this would be suitable enough payment for you."

Gekko's eyes widened at the pile of steaks in front of her on the table. She had to fight to keep from drooling. "Wow, thanks! I love Brahmin steak and this will keep me going for a good long while."

The McBrides did not know anything about the disappearance, so she took her leave and hauled her steaks back to her room. She found a knife and cutting board, and spent some time during the afternoon cutting the giant steaks down into two or three smaller portions each. She piled them all into the freezer, barely able to make them all fit. After hearing from Cliff that Jeannie May always tried to make the town affairs her business, she decided to pay her a visit.

"Well how are you doing today dear? I hope you are finding your room to your liking." Jeannie May welcomed her as Gekko approached the desk.

"I am. I actually had a question for you. I heard a rumor about a woman from town disappearing."

"Yes that did happen lately. Why do you want to know about it?"

"Oh… well, I just like to help people out in my travels. You know, do good deeds for fellow man. Make people happy. Apparently it was Manny's best friends wife who went missing. And he is worried about his friend."

_God I am too good at lying for my own good. _

"Oh yes, Boone, poor dear. I feel bad for him, but it was no secret that she hated living here. She was from New Vegas and must have preferred the fancy living and lights of the big city. She probably just up and left on her own. Despite what that crack-pot No-Bark says about her being abducted."

Gekko had the pleasure of stumbling into No-Bark yesterday and having him threaten to stab her. She tried asking him about Checkered suit, and instead got all of this… nonsense about, chupacabaras, commie ghosts, and camouflage from extra terrestrials. Combining what Boone told her last night, and now hearing that No-Bark was claiming she was abducted, made her interested enough to go and question him next.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it dear." Jeannie May interrupted her train of thought. "Like I said she probably just got sick of living here and left. God riddance I say. She was not the nicest person I'd ever met. I guess you could say she was like a cactus flower. Real pretty to look at, but there was no getting close to her. If she'd ever had better food or hospitality, she went out of her way to make sure you knew about it."

"Ok, well thanks anyways."

"Oh no problem dear, remember if you need anything at all, don't hesitate to ask."

Around the back of the motel, she found No-Bark, skulking around the same spot she ran into him yesterday.

"You've seen them too haven't you? I can see it in your eyes. I know I wasn't the only one." He ran a hand through his scruffy gray beard as he glanced cautiously around the place they were standing.

"I did, but we need to keep that a secret between us. You know how commies can be." Gekko played along. Sometimes screwing around with people like No-Bark could be fun.

"And you would do best to keep that in mind.!"

"I heard that you were the only one who saw the abduction of Boone's wife. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Seen it all! Seen shadowy folks come into his room and leave again in the middle of the night. One of them went in the lobby, too, for a spell. Could be that person went in and got something. Or use the john maybe. Mighty interesting either way, you ask me. I thought it was cannibals, come to eat all of us for sure! So I laid low. But now I know better. "

"So who was it? Extraterrestrials? Commies?"

"Molerat men!"

"… Molerat men?" Gekko's head tilted to the right as she cocked her eyebrows.

"Molerat men. They come from underneath to steal young women with promises of riches, and fancy mud mansions with all the latest designer appliances. You'd best be careful or they'll be coming for you next!"

Gekko nodded. "Will do No-Bark, thanks."

"If anyone asked, we never spoke." He said to her under his breath, before turning away and leaving.

Gekkos head was spinning from that conversation. But it gave her a lead on where to look next. She decided to head back into her room and wait for dark. She heated herself up a steak for dinner, then tried to lay down for a nap, but could not get her mind off of the current situation. Something was definitely amiss here, and it made her uneasy.

By the time 11 pm rolled around, Gekko figured the front lobby of the motel would be unoccupied. The rest of town should be quiet by then too, giving her the opportunity to sneak in and look for clues.

To her surprise the lobby was unlocked. She casually walked in, not wanting to draw suspicion if Jeannie May was still there. Thankfully, the proprietor had left for the day. Gekko headed around behind the counter. She noticed a black floor safe under her feet. She pulled out her small red-handled screw driver and a bobby pin. she knelt down and began the arduous task of picking the lock, without jamming it. To her luck, it was a relatively weak lock and came open without much fuss.

Inside the safe resided a some cigarettes, caps, pre-war money, and a tri-folded piece of thick, cream colored parchment. The front of the folds bore the symbol of a gold bull on a crimson field. Last time she saw that symbol was at the massacre of Nipton. Gekko felt a catch in her throat as she picked up the paper. She sat back on her heels as she unfolded the document.

_We, the representatives of the Consul Officiorum, have this day bargained and purchased from Jeannie May Crawford of the township of Novac the exclusive rights to ownership and sale of the slave Carla Boone for the sum of one thousand bottle caps, and those of her unborn child for the sum of five-hundred bottle caps, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged. We warrant the slave and her young to be sound, and healthy slaves for life. We Covenant with the said, Jeannie May Crawford, that we have full power to bargain and sell said slave and her offspring. Payment of an additional five-hundred bottle caps will be due pending successful maturation of the fetus, the claim to which shall be guaranteed by possession of this document. _

_M. Scribonius Libo Drusus et al. _

_Administrators of M. Licinius Crassus, Consul Officiorum ab Famulatus _

Gekkos's jaw dropped. "Oh fuck..." Not only did this guy loose his wife, but she was also pregnant. She refolded the paper, and tucked it carefully in her back pocket. She closed the safe and stood up, rubbing out a cramp that had started to form on the underside of her left thigh.

Once back outside, Gekko made her way up the stairs and into her room. She opened up the trunk at the foot of her bed and grabbed out Boone's red beret. She carefully rolled it up and placed it in her back pocket as well.

She headed back out and toward the small gathering of houses located at the edge of town. Now to find out where this scumbag whore lived. Thankfully that was not too difficult a task. The first home on the street had a small wooden sign on the front door reading: 'Ms. Jeannie May Crawford, owner and proprietor of the Dino Dee-lite Motel'. Gekko took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as she knocked loudly on the door. Moments later, an irritated looking Jeannie May answered, dressed in nightclothes. Gekko had to restrain herself from choking the bitch out then and there.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked impatiently.

Gekko rubbed at the right side of her face. "Yeah, you can actually. There is something... _strange_ going on in front of the dinosaur. I really think you should go take a look."

"What in heavens name could be going on at this hour?" Jeannie May muttered under her breath as she stepped outside, closing the door behind her.

The two women walked together, wordlessly towards the dinosaur. Unsure of whether it was the cool from the night air, or her nerves, a chill ran down the length of Gekko's spine. Gekko felt herself becoming frustrated at Jeannie May's agonizingly slow pace. Though kept herself focused on the task at hand. Finally they neared a pile of rubble situated in front of Dinky.

"Sorry Honey , but I don't see anything going on here." Jeannie May started to leave.

"Hey can I ask you something?"

Jeannie May turned and faced her. Her annoyance growing.

"What the hell kind of sick pleasure does a woman like you get out of selling a man's pregnant wife into slavery anyways.?"

"Why I never!" Jeannie May began, before Gekko cut her off.

Gekko took the red beret out of her pocket and set atop the spikes of her mohawk as she pointed towards the dinosaur's mouth. The two women looked up and saw the shimmer of a gun barrel in the moonlight. Gekko quickly took a couple of steps back before a loud *BANG* resonated through the crumbling concrete structures around her. Jeannie May's head was removed clean off the rest of her body.

Gekko let out a deep breath before returning to the snipers nest. Up top, Boone stood, silent and still, his back towards her. It was a few long moments before he finally spoke.

"How did you know?" He asked as he turned around to face her.

"I found this." Gekko replied as she took the bill of sale from her pocket. She removed his beret and handed the items them too him.

He replaced his beret atop his shaved head, before opening the document and looking over it. His face remained expressionless. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I'd be like them to keep paper work." He reached into a pocket of his green fatigues and handed her a handful of caps. "This is all I can give. I think our dealings are done here."

Gekko nodded as she took her payment from him. "Would I be right to assume you aren't very inclined on remaining in this town for much longer?"

"Yeah, I'm getting outta this shit hole. Not sure what I am going to do yet. Don't see much point in anything right now. Except hunting legionaries." He turned and looked out into the wastes. "Maybe I'll wander, like you."

Gekko stepped forward and stood next to him, she glanced up at the starlit sky. "I am actually looking for a traveling companion. Get's lonely out there all on your own." She folded her arms across her chest.

Boone shook his head. "You don't want to do that. Be traveling around someone like me."

"I don't see why not. We both harbor a mutual dislike of the Legion. Besides, don't snipers work in best teams?"

"Heh, yeah you're right. Working on your own is a lot less effective. I've been there and paid for it."

"You're preaching to the choir. I've still got the stitches on my head to prove it."

"Fine. Let's get the hell out of here."

Gekko smiled as she turned to face him. "Cool. But we are not leaving town just yet. Your pal Manny is making me do his work for him. Unfortunately, I need information he has, so I have no choice but to follow through."

"He is no friend of mine."

"That was sarcasm. Not only did he mention that you two were not on good terms, but he also said some really unkind things... about your wife."

"Not surprised. He hated her from the start."

"Hey if you want, I can have you hold him down while I beat the information I need out of him with a lead pipe. Once I am done, we can switch. I hold, you beat. It would be doing us both a favor."

"Hnh." He breathed, as the corner of his lips twitched.

Gekko laughed. "And you're actually agreeing with me. In all seriousness though, we should probably do this the peaceful way. Or else the townies would probably chase us out with pitchforks for killing their socialite and maiming the guard dog."

"Well, I'm ready to go when you are."

"Sounds good, but I seriously need some rest first. So how about we rendezvous in the courtyard in front of the motel around 5 am. Ok?"

"If that's what you want. I really don't sleep much, so it makes no difference to me."

Together they made their way to the stairs, halfway down, Gekko stopped and turned around to face him.

"By the way, even though I've learned by now that your name is Boone, we've never formally introduced ourselves. That might be important if we are going to be working together."

"Makes sense. Craig Boone, but just call me Boone. Ok?"

"And I just go by Gekko these days"

"Gekko?" He gave her a strange look.

"Yup."

They parted ways in front of the Motel. Gekko watched as he headed towards his room on the first floor, before returning to her room.


	13. Important note to my readers

Listen up chillllldren!

I've got a bad news - good news - bad news sandwhich for all of my readers.

Bad news: We had a catastrohic system crash. For a while there is looked really bad. EVERYTHING was gone. Years of writing I have done, photos, stuff for my work, as well as all of the progress for my current fics.

Good news: My husbands best friend (professional IT, always good to know one) was able to do a critical recovery and find most of our stuff. With any luck the data is un-harmed and in-tact, safely stored to back ups. But I have no way to really check right now.

Bad News: Not sure how long until the system is clean and safe to use again. What ever hit us was really really bad. Whole systems needs thorough cleaning, and to be completely restored. And even then there is no 100% guarantee my stuff is un-corrupted.

Sooooo, not sure how long it will be until you see more updates from me.

-Amanda


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